Why Canada’s Wilderness Will Leave You Happier and Healthier

Why Canada’s Wilderness Will Leave You Happier and Healthier

Spectacular. Stunning. Jaw dropping.

Oh Canada you are a beautiful and vast land. Your people may be trade marked for their politeness but you show no humility in your grandeur.


A Few Statistics About Canada

With 9.98 million square kilometers (3.85 million square miles) there are no shortage of places to connect with nature in Canada. The southern boundary with the United States is the longest border between two countries in the world.


Canadian Demography

Of the over 35 million people who call Canada home, 82% live in cities, leaving a great deal of wilderness to be explored. With growing evidence that connecting with nature leads to a happier and healthier life there may be no better place than Canada to do just that.


Why It Is Necessary to Connect With Nature

In the frenetic pace of day to day life, as blood pressures soar and anxiety rises, research shows a trip to nature may be just the calming cure we require.

The loon call echoes across the mirrored water as the sea lions lounge on nearby sun drenched rocks. Snow capped mountains peek over the tips of lush forested hills. Puffy clouds admire themselves in the crystal clear water. The worries of traffic jams and late arrivals to meetings fade in the whispering wind.

In Canada’s wilderness rather than bracing for mobs of tourists often found on vacations, tiny ocean ripples the seal leaves in his wake, are all that move as bald eagles soar above. No elbowing for the best vantage point, no rushing, just nature working its magic on body and mind.


Scientific Studies on Why Nature Makes Us Happier

We may have long felt that nature makes us happier but now science is demonstrating just that. According to author Florence Williams, "The frontal lobe, the part of our brain that's hyper-engaged in modern life, deactivates a little when you are outside."

In her book The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative, she explains how technology is capturing what is going on in our brain when we step outside.

According to Williams nature is good for us. With scientists able to go outside of the lab and measure brain waves while we wander in the woods versus walking in a noisy city, the results show what we knew all along. We may not have realized however that our alpha waves, which indicate an alert but calm state, grow more pronounced when immersed in nature.

From Finnish islands, to forests in Korea to stands of Eucalyptus in California, Williams studies the science of creativity, health and happiness. As our time indoors increases the research shows a desperate need for people to reconnect with nature.

The sun rises from behind the mountains and plays with the glassy water. A sea otter and baby swim by in the crystal clear bay. The walking trails beckon to be followed to gaze upward at cedar trees more than 800 years old.


The Canadian Wilderness

Canadian wilderness besides being breathtakingly beautiful, holds a natural remedy for our frenetic lives. Strengthening relationships, promoting health and inspiring innovation, the Canadian wild is calling.


All photos taken at Blind Channel, located in the Discovery Islands off of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.