Can nature improve your well-being? Yes it can!

There’s a large and growing body of research that going outside  can improve your state of mind and, with it, your physical well-being. Even small doses of nature can make a difference in the inner city.

In Baltimore, executive coach Mamie Parker, a former assistant director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service helps teens and their families discover a positive connection between health and nature, in the form of nearby parks. “I tell them, ‘If you’re frustrated, you’re angry, you’re tired, you’re bored, look to the outdoors as a way to substitute. It can help you feel better.”
Some students are coming to agree, including those she brings, with the help of the Service and its Urban Wildlife Conservation Program, to a reclaimed brownfield called Masonville Cove through a local partnership. “Because when they’re out in nature, no one’s telling them not to be loud, to use ‘inside’ voices,” says Parker. “They can run. They can be free.”
Around the country, national wildlife refuges are reminding visitors that nature experiences can enhance health.

The first Saturday of each month, Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge offers a scenic “nature walk for health.” Outdoor recreation planner Carmen Leong-Minch, regional representative to the Healthy Parks Healthy People Bay Area Collaborative, invites nature walk participants to “refresh your spirit with nature.” In spring and summer, she leads nature yoga sessions on the refuge.

With kids, Leong-Minch is wilier. “I'm not sure if being healthy is a motivator for kids, so I try to sneak it into programs.” The Amazing Refuge Race, which she created, is one. “I don't think they know it is about getting them to move outdoors — just that it’s a competition.”
At St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge on the Florida panhandle, environmental educator Lori Nicholson subtly steers the conversation to health when she talks with school kids on field trips. After some routine questions — “How many of you been here before? When you were here, what did you do?” — she slips in, “ ‘Do you ever just come to sit and enjoy the nature sounds around you? You should try that, see how it makes you feel.’” Says Nicholson, “I have had lots of parents and students tell me they really enjoy the peace and quiet of the refuge, that it helps them to re-focus.”
St. Marks Refuge supervisory park ranger Robin Will represents the Service on a Florida coalition that, with a grant from health insurer Florida Blue, has trained more than 75 Leon County physicians to write “nature prescriptions” for their patients. “The refuge is a resource for physicians to give their patients to get outdoors,” says Will.

Will tells of a counselor at a Tallahassee mental health facility who sometimes brings her patients to the refuge to relax and de-stress. Says Will, “Hearing the splash of water and birds calling has a way of calming individuals and getting them to talk….Peace of mind is a huge part of what makes refuges so amazing.”

In Oregon, Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge is exploring partnerships in Portland to boost nature-and-health connections. The urban refuge already partners with Soul River, a nonprofit outdoor health venture founded by Navy veteran Chad Brown. Brown says fly-fishing helped him recover from PTSD; now, he and the refuge bring inner-city youth and veterans together on local rivers to heal and learn from one another.

First-timers sometimes express surprise at the calming effect of a refuge. “The city is too much chaos,” says Joshua Rodriguez, a young Californian who was filmed (https://vimeo.com/141553860) while visiting Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge, just south of San Diego. “Here it’s just open wildlife, and you feel so immersive in a different world.”
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Back in Baltimore, Parker can vouch for nature’s calming power: “I’ve gotten letters from kids saying, ‘This helped me deal with problems that I have.’…I’ve heard from parents that [their kids] seem more content. It inspires me to keep making the connection, that’s for sure.”
Find a national wildlife refuge near you here.

Whether your motivation is to free your sightseeing from the stress of traffic, see a city from a new perspective, save the planet, or just save yourself from exorbitant hotel parking charges, one of the best ways to go green when you travel is to ditch the car. And while that’s not possible everywhere, it’s the perfect way to experience these three cities, which have made easy-access biking a priority for visitors as well as for residents. 




Nashville
When you think of Nashville, the first thing that probably comes to mind is music, followed by Music City’s suddenly surging food, art, and entrepreneurial DIY business scenes.

But on a recent trip to Music City, what I noticed were the seemingly omnipresent bright red bikes and wide, easy to navigate bike lanes, which lured me to try out the city’s new B-cycle network. Only a little more than a year old, B-cycle allows you to “check out” a bike from any of its 29 kiosks, and return it to any other. It’s cheap; a 24-hour membership is $5 with the first hour of use free and $3 for each additional hour. And B-cycle is easy to use, especially if you download the service’s NashVitality app, which gives you interactive route maps complete with locations of pick-up and drop-off stations. For those staying in the many hotels out by Opryland and the airport, there’s Bike the Greenway, which rents bikes and maps routes from nearby Two Rivers trailhead, including a half-hour ride into downtown.

Either way, it’s easy to zip between the city’s key attractions, from the Country Music Hall of Fame with its wildly popular new exhibit, Dylan, Cash and the Nashville Cats  to the Frist Center for the Arts, located in the City’s renovated art deco post office. But the real thrill of bike sharing is getting to check out Nashville’s eclectic and decidedly distinct neighborhoods, such as hipster central 12 South, foodie haven East Nashville, and up-and-coming Wedgewood-Houston.

Most bike routes are pleasantly protected, and you can navigate much of the distance via a network of trails and greenways, including the new Music City Bikeway, a 26-mile route linking east and west Nashville. There is one problem, though: Nashville does have hills, and somehow they just don’t look as big from the window of the car. But if you’re willing to get a bit of a workout, you can get most places you want to go.

For longer stays, you can join GreenBikes, a free bike-sharing system funded by an partnership between Nashville public health and parks and recreation that offers bikes for pickup in most of the City’s most popular parks.

Don’t want to venture out on your own? The Signature City tour from Green Fleet bike tours gets you out to explore Germantown, the Gulch, and Marathon Village, a sprawling conglomeration of brick-walled warehouses that now shelter art galleries, and craft businesses, including Corsair, a small-batch distiller, the home of Antique Archaeology, and music venue the Old Time Pickin’ Parlor with it’s acclaimed Sunday brunch jam. Of course in addition to the Signature, you can also take more traditional tours of Music Row and the downtown highlights.

Chicago
Look at any four-or five-day itinerary of must-dos in Chicago and your first reaction will be: No way. After all, you can easily spend an entire day in the Art Institute of Chicago, and another exploring the Magnificent Mile. But what about Navy Pier, the Museum of Science and Industry, Willis (formerly Sears) Tower, the riverfront,  Lake Michigan, Lincoln Park, and its many historic sites and colorful neighborhoods? Factor in Chicago’s notorious traffic (not to mention the maze of one-way streets, El crossings, and bridges) and you’re ready to give up.

To the rescue come the Windy City’s not one, but two bike services, Divvy Bikes and Bike and Roll Chicago, both of which make sightseeing a breeze. (Pun intended.) And novices will be relieved to hear that unlike Nashville, Chicago is flat. Look down from the Navy Pier Ferris wheel or Willis tower and you won’t see a hill in site. So the only thing forcing you to change gears will be the headwinds that give the Windy City its moniker. 

If you plan to do most of your sightseeing by bike and want the convenience of easy lock-ups, go with Divvy; take a quick look at Divvy’s map of stations and you’ll see downtown blanketed with blue dots. In the central city, stations are as close as a block apart; you can literally pick up a bike at one end of the State Street bridge and drop it off at the other if that saves you a few minutes. Divvy is a bit of a commitment, though, as their service operates via annual membership, the cheapest level of which is $75. But that still saves you money over a three-day car rental, not to mention parking fees.

If you’re only going to ride for an afternoon, traditional bike rentals are available from Bike and Roll Chicago at just $9 an hour, complete with helmet and lock. Bike and roll also offers bike tours, which are a great way to see many of the top attractions without having to constantly pull out a map, and guided by someone who knows the ropes.

Either way, it’s a great feeling to whiz past the honking backup on Lakeshore Drive. And Chicago’s bike scene is only going to get better. When mayor Rahm Emmanuel was first elected in 2011, he promised a  645-mile network of bike paths and designated lanes by 2020, a promise that doesn’t seem altogether far-fetched based on the rapid progress so far.

Take the uber-ambitious Bloomingdale Trail, the ultimate rails-to-trails project that’s in the process of transforming an out-of-use elevated railway line along Bloomingdale Avenue linking several of the city’s historic neighborhoods. Part of a park and trails system known as the 606(after the area code), the long-awaited greenway opens June 6.

Washington, D.C.
Summer after summer, visitors mob the capital for a peek into the workings of government and the almost endless supply of free museums and exhibits. But have you ever tried to walk from the Air and Space Museum to the Washington Monument in July? If you have, you’ll know why the breeze that comes with biking is so welcome—and why there are a host of companies such as Bike and Roll DC and Capital City Bike Tours offering two-wheel tours of the capital’s sights.

For those ready to head out on their own, there’s Capital Bikeshare, until recently the largest bike-sharing system in the country with more than 300 stations extending all the way out through Arlington and Montgomery counties, and now second only to New York City. A great option is the Daily Key membership; set it up before you depart and you can skip the hassle of entering information on a kiosk touchpad. Your $10 membership comes with one 24-Hour access period preloaded into your system key, which you activate online. After that, any time you want a bike you use your key to unlock a bike, activating another 24-hour period, at a cost of $7. Capital Bike Share also maps an array of routes on its interactive map.

Bike and Roll also has short-term rentals complete with helmet, lock, map and directions, a great deal at $8 an hour with a two-hour minimum. As in Chicago, Bike and Roll also offersbike tours such as the monuments tour, which gets you conveniently close to each of the famous monoliths in record time.

For longer rides, look to Bike Washington, which maps out routes like the 18-mile ride to Mount Vernon and rails-to-trails conversions like the 13-mile Capital Crescent and the 46-mile historic Washington and Old Dominion Trail.
By Melanie Haiken
TakePart.com

About Elaine Masters: Dedicated to helping travelers get where they’re going feeling great, Elaine is a world wanderer and the Indie Excellence award-winning author of Drivetime Yoga and Flytime Yoga. Blog founder of Trip Wellness and host of Travel Well Meetups in San Diego, she also hosts the top ten podcast, The Gathering Road, on the Womens Radio Network.