Students find peace as they leave city limits to visit their family farms. Photo by Kaitlyn Dalhuisen.

As you drive past the welcome sign on the edge of the city limits, the air may start to feel lighter and your mind may start to clear. These are part of the benefits of getting outside the city limits. According to an article posted by the National Library for Medicine on “Cities and Mental Health” in February of 2017, “Studies have shown that the risk for serious mental illness is generally higher in cities compared to rural areas.” 

Studies have shown that going outdoors in nature doesn’t have to be something big. In June 2022, a study was done to see if there was a different in the amount of time seeing nature. According to the study from “The International Journal for building, Urban, Interior and Landscape Technology”, participants were put on a treadmill with a screen playing views of nature for differing durations of time. According to the study, “Participants who saw nature during the walk had greater attentional score improvements. No difference was found among durations.”

Diane Gallagher, project coordinator for Be Fit for Life at Lethbridge Polytechnic, also expressed this idea when she shared the idea that your time outside can be even five to 10 minutes.

“I guess it’s just a matter of maybe thinking about how to be out in nature. It doesn’t have to be a big endeavour. You use it as active transportation can be part of being out in nature. Like walking places or biking places. It’s even just simple things like that on a daily basis,” added Gallagher.

As students, being in the hustle and bustle of the city all the time can also take a toll on the mental health of people, especially when you aren’t used to city noises on a daily basis. Hailey Belisle, a second year agriculture science student, finds being outside the city is more enjoyable since she grew up in a rural community.

“The thing that makes leaving the city limits so enjoyable for me is the simpler ways of life that can be found. Coming from a farm, I often find the city life quite busy and loud. So being able to leave and go back to a simpler way of life, even just for a weekend is what makes it enjoyable for me,” says Belisle.

According to an article entitled “Here’s How Living in a City can Mess with your Mental Health”, written by Juli Fraga in February 2019 and posted by Healthline, “compared to rural residents, researchers have found that urbanities are 21 per cent more likely to have anxiety disorders and 39 per cent more likely to have mood disorders.”

Even though getting outside the city may be challenging for some people, you can find other ways to clear your head like listening to music and just walking around the town but the quiet is very beneficial when leaving the city for Belisle.

“The biggest benefit when leaving the city for me is the peace and quiet that can be found outside the city,” she added.

The quiet can also be found in the city even when getting outside is difficult but you can find nature anywhere. Even though it doesn’t have to be a huge excursion, there are important things to remember.

“It doesn’t have to be sophisticated. It doesn’t have to be full of equipment. It doesn’t have to be an organized activity. It can just be you getting outside in a green space that you can find, you know, experiencing the sights, the sounds, the smells, and just kind of tuning into your senses in that space,” says Gallagher.

Going outside has been proven to be beneficial for many reasons and from many perspectives and studies, don’t make it a big endeavour and keep it simple because the smallest active choices help.