2:09 Today my guest is Linda Åkeson McGurk is a Swedish American writer and author of The Open-Air Life and the bestselling parenting memoir There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather.She is a passionate advocate for the Nordic outdoor tradition friluftsliv and runs the blog Rain or Shine Mamma, where she shares tips and inspiration for outdoor play every day, regardless of the weather. McGurk and her work have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, The New York Times, The New York Post, Huffington Post, Psychology Today and many more. When she is not working, she is usually found sauntering around the pine forests near her home in southwestern Sweden.
5:52 What prompted Linda to write my first book and blogs. Reaching out to community.
6:37 Latest book “The Open Air Life: Discover the Art of Friluftsliv and Embrace Nature EverY Day ” wanted to share outdoor cultural traditions of Sweden.
7:23 How to help people take the step
11:45 Why getting into nature feels like going home. But nature is not a bottomless pit. View nature in terms of personal health, important to attach to environmental policy.
18:00 What is Friluftsliv? (below are 4 of the 10 principles)
1) Appreciate and are one with nature
2) when you go to local nature spaces. If close by, much more likely to go. Get to know your local birds and trees.
3) Non competitive. Feel the joy and keep it simple.
4) Starts when the motor is turned off, when you compel yourself in space as in swimming, walking, running, cycling, cross country skiing, paddle boarding, kayaking..
24:00 water skiing vs swimming – activity and personal thrill vs being and communing with what is under the water, communing with nature. Also the difference in the environmental impact. And which is most sustainable.
26:13 Friluftsliv involves leaning basic outdoor skills like how do you purify water, start a fire, a way of connecting with the past.
Also no shame in turning around when the weather changes and is not safe. In order to read weather patterns need to spend time out there. In sweden a common way to hang out is to go for a walk and have coffee after.
30:38 Swedes have names for different types of walks: quiz walk, evening walk, beach walk, forest walk, quick walk, reflective walk. Use high visibility vests and flashlights
In the US 50% of the population walks in the forest and in Sweden 90% do. US is a car culture, not built for walking. High school students drive to school.
35:37 Benefits of walking – research – if there was a pill for all the benefits that being outside in green space provides we’d take it. It is free and there are no side effects.
36:19 Evidence that a 30 minute walk a day reduces heart disease, diabetes, obesity, stress, anxiety, and cancer.
37:05 Part of my mission is to get outside and spread the word – to get people to appreciate what getting outside can do for you. A simple walk does the magic.
39:01 4-6 am birdsong when birds are most active. In Sweden an annual celebration when birds return from migration, have a picnic, coffee, mats to sit on outside.
Our circadian rhythm is regulated by daylight. Getting outside at day break helps to tell our bodies when to wake up and when to sleep.
45:08 Anneleah Dahl is an example of a person who incorporated outside time to help her body to heal from cancer. She was diagnosed at a young age. Prior to diagnosis was not intentional about getting outside. After her dx made a point of getting outside every single day. This practice became a key part of her rehab and was a total game changer.
48:31 Nature worship goes back in folklore and sometime people were scared of the woods. Some forests were believed to have trolls and others magic or enchanted,
51:24 Cold Plunge – I practice, does something to the nervous system and makes us more resilient and refreshed.
55:14 Walk and talk meetings. People perform better, more creative, more alert. Corporations are using more.
70:04 Fine line between consuming nature and sustaining nature. So enjoy nature in the least intrusive way possible.
Think about ways that how can be kind to the earth.
For peer reviewed research on how your time spent in green space can change your mindset, balance your nervous system and your heart rate you are on my website https://treesmendus.com and check out my books Take Back Your Outside Mindset: Live Longer, Stress Less, and Control Your Chronic Illness and Optimize Your Heart Rate: Balance Your Mind and Body With Green Space
