Outside, Offline and with Others

How the

Three O’s

can improve

your wellbeing.

A few years ago, I was doing some study and was able to choose an elective subject.  Since I had recently become a meditation teacher, I chose a subject called Stress, Self-Care and Mindfulness.  I really enjoyed the course, and it covered a lot of ground, from understanding what stress is from a biopsychosocial perspective, models of stress and wellbeing, behaviour change, goal-setting and how to reduce and manage stress.  One of the sections really caught my attention, and I was reminded of it recently while spending time with my family at my parent’s farm.  It focused on three concepts that can have a massive impact on your wellbeing and health - Outside, Offline and with Others.  So, what exactly do we mean by outside, offline and with others and what does the research say about the benefits of incorporating these three things into your day to day?

Outside

Anyone who has ever spent an afternoon sitting in the park, watching a sunrise/sunset, playing on the beach or walking in a rainforest can attest to the rejuvenating benefits of outside time.  But why exactly does being outside make us feel so good?  There are a few theories as to why we feel this way and it’s likely that all three play a part.

1. Attention restoration – in this theory attention is seen as a finite resource and our ultra connected and information dense lifestyles and constant mental switching between tasks drains this resource.  Being in nature allows our attention resources to restore as our attention is effortlessly drawn to one simple thing at a time.

2. Stress-reduction – Being outside is seen to have a restorative effect by reducing our levels of hyperarousal, allowing a decrease in negative emotion and an increase in positive emotion.

3. Biophilia hypothesis – This is the idea that humans have an innate tendency, partly genetic, towards a love of life and living systems.  This is seen in the universal appreciation of the natural world across cultures, although the longer we move our societies away from the natural world through technology, the more we risk losing this natural affiliation with the natural world.

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks" - John Muir

The Japanese have a term called shinrin-yoku which translates to “forest bathing” to describe the practice of mindfully walking in nature and using all your senses to take in the experience, sounds delightful doesn’t it?  The practice of shinrin-yoku has been shown to improve immune function, reduce heart rate and blood pressure, reduce stress hormones, reduce anxiety, depression, fatigue and confusion, and improve sleep and overall vigour. For more on shinrin-yoku see this ABC Article.

Indigenous cultures around the world have this intrinsic connection to nature at the centre of life. Here in Australia First Nations people speak about country, not as dirt and trees and sky, but as a living and breathing entity, a part of them and their people. I recently attended a retreat where an amazing local woman gave, not a welcome to country, but an introduction, inviting us to commune with the land we were on, to get to know it. It was a powerful experience and something we can all do when we are in nature. Touch the trees, notice all the sounds, and connect with the environment, get to know it.

Now one caveat to the benefits of being outside is that it needs to be tech-free as including technology (even listening to podcasts etc) in nature breaks has been shown to negate the positive effects, particularly on attention as your attention is divided.  So, take your walks without the phone. Which leads us to the second O…

Offline

Worldwide research into screen time is nothing short of alarming with children spending an average of 2.5-5 hours a day on screens, adolescents 7.5 hours and adults 6.38 hours, although there is some good news with Australians spending 10% less time on social media and entertainment in 2024 compared with 2023, with Gen Z particularly cutting back on their social media usage. 

You're probably familiar with some of the negative impacts of excessive screen time but here’s a summary of some of the ‘technopathologies’ you might have experienced:

Digital fog – a feeling of clouding of consciousness due to too much stimulation

Data smog – the overwhelm you feel with too much information, feeling paralysed and

unable to make a decision

Frazzing – Frantic but ineffectual attempts at multitasking

Screen sucking – the trancelike state you can enter, feeling attached but not interested

Infinity pools – not the fun, swimming kind but that sense of an infinite, never-ending feed on

social media that you never get through

Doomscrolling – excessive engagement with negative content.  Social media algorithms

have both a confirmation bias (showing you things that confirm your own opinions) and negativity bias (tending to more and more negative or extreme)

Ringxiety – Phantom vibration syndrome where you sense your phone ringing or vibrating

due to being on high alert all the time

Nomophobia (short for “no mobile phobia”) – fear of being without a working phone

FOMO (fear of missing out) – worry that others are having more rewarding experiences

Any (or all) of these feel familiar? Excessive technology use can have negative effects on our attitudes, thoughts, behaviours and psychology with links to poor mental health, sleep, body image and disordered eating.  Most digital technologies are designed to capture your attention, and monetise it, and as we learned before, attention is a finite resource, so we need to be mindful as to how we spend it. 

Now not all technology is inherently bad, much of the tech we use is essential to our work and lives, enabling us to do the deep work and creation we need.  What we need to focus on is being aware of the tech we use, and perhaps editing out some of the stuff that doesn’t help us with that deep work, or doesn’t make our lives better.  Think of it a bit like digital nutrition, so long as the majority of our digital diet is healthy and we’re not taking in too much, we can indulge occasionally in the sweet treats in small doses.  Awareness is key!

And the final component...

with Others

"If you have good friends, no matter how much life is sucking, they can make you laugh" - P.C. Cast

Social support is vital to humans and serves several functions: practical, informational, affirmational/approval, and emotional.  Ever since humans lived in small groups in caves, it has been better for our survival to be part of a group than alone. 

The sources of our social support fit largely into two categories: close (partner, family, friends) and diffuse (colleagues, teachers, peers).  Even pets can count as social support. 

The quality of our relationships matters more than the number, and a lack of appropriate social support is correlated with increased anxiety, depression and mental disorders as well as poorer health.  In a famous Harvard study on adult development over many decades, they found that people who reported good relationships were happier, healthier and lived longer while loneliness affected overall wellbeing, health and even brain function and mortality. 

There are a couple of hypotheses around how our relationships affect our health.  One proposes that social support directly impacts our health because of the positive experiences and self-worth that come from these relationships.  The other proposes that our social relationships “buffer” us during stressful life events and help us to cope. In reality, it’s probably a bit of both.  Now not all social networks are positive and it’s important to highlight that the positive effects only relate to positive relationships.  Relationships with high levels of conflict and/or abuse, overly dense networks (interfering) or those with risk-taking central to the group can have negative effects.  If you feel like the quality of your relationships could be improved there are two options:

1. Build deeper connections with the people you already know.  Reach out to friends/family you haven’t seen in a while, give someone a call or text.  Think about interests you share and invite them along to something.

   
   

2. Make new friends.  This is especially important in transition phases, say when you’ve finished school and starting work or study, or when moving into retirement (replace workmates with playmates).  This can be scary, particularly if you haven’t done it in a while, but sometimes it’s simply about starting a conversation.  If you’d like some more tips check out this article from Science of People

So, there they are, three O’s with the potential to make a huge difference in the quality of your life.  And do you know what? The effects get even bigger when you combine them, so give it a go.  Get off your phone, head outside, and bring a mate along for the trifecta!

I hope you find this useful; you can also listen in to the Real Life Happy Hour my weekly dose of inspiration and meditation advice where I’ll be diving into each of the Three O’s. 

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I'd love to hear your experience, does this ring true for you? Comment below with how the Three O's have impacted your life, or if you have any questions.

Thanks for reading,

Karen