Go For A Walk Among Trees

The practice
Go for a brisk walk, every day, for half an hour. Take your walk in nature, or in an area where you can see trees and other plants, such as a park or a pleasant area with gardens if you're in a city. It sounds banal, but it's better and faster than Prozec at making you feel happier--according to studies.

The theory
There are two parts to this. The exercise itself, and the natural setting.

The exercise:
A Harvard Medical School study conducted in 2005 showed that "walking fast for about 35 minutes a day five times a week, or 60 minutes a day three times a week, had a significant influence on mild to moderate depression symptoms".

No-one knows exactly why exercise makes people feel better, but one theory is that it stimulates production of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which has a direct effect on mood. It also stimulates production of endorphins, the feel-good chemicals. They switch in after about thirty minutes of mildly aerobic exercise--exercise that makes you breathe just a little faster.

It's not clear how briskly you have to walk--I'd say a slow walk is probably better than no walk at all, but the study did show that you need to be out for at least half an hour. "Walking fast for only 15 minutes a day five times a week or doing stretching exercises three times a week did not help as much."

The natural setting:
A lot of research is now coming out about the beneficial effects of nature. It calms us down.

"A small study by the University of Essex commissioned by UK mental health charity Mind compared the benefits of a 30-minute walk in a country park with a walk in an indoor shopping centre on a group of 20 people with depression. After the country walk, 71 per cent reported decreased levels of depression and said they felt less tense while 90 per cent reported increased self-esteem. In contrast, only 45 per cent experienced a decrease in depression after the shopping centre walk."

The result
Try it and leave your feedback.