outwigo

It doesn’t matter if it’s January or June, snowing or sunny and 85 degrees; it’s always a good idea to get outdoors in Wisconsin.

Sure, we have plenty of beautiful opportunities all across our state. But it’s not just a matter of looking at some pretty scenery. Studies have found a significant link between getting outdoors and improved mental health. 

On episode 57, we spoke with Dr. Shilagh Mirgain, a psychologist with UW Health about the benefits of stepping away from the screen, logging off and getting outdoors. Listen in to learn more about Nature Deficit Disorder, how even just a few minutes a day can be beneficial, and what you can do to reap the benefits of nature, even if you simply cannot get outside.

Learn more about Dr. Shilagh Mirgain at https://www.drshilaghmirgain.com/

Find your next adventure at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/adventure
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TRANSCRIPT
ANNOUNCER: [00:00:00] Welcome to Wisconsin DNR's Wild Wisconsin "Off the Record" podcast. Information straight from the source.

KATIE GRANT: [00:00:12] Welcome back to another episode of Wild Wisconsin Off the Record. I'm your host. DNR's Digital Communication Section Chief Katie Grant. With all the changes from the COVID-19 public health emergency, I'm sure a lot of adults feel the same way that I do lately. I stare at a screen all day while working from home with no meetings to use as an excuse to get away from those screens anymore.

Then after work, I stare at a little screen while staring at a big screen until I go to bed and I start it all over again. And studies confirm what many adults are feeling. The average adult spends more time behind a screen than they do even sleeping. And it's not just the adults. Even before the pandemic, kids spent as little as 30 minutes a day playing outside. But they spent more than seven hours in front of a screen.

All of this screen time really takes a toll on people's physical and mental health. But in a world where we're telecommuting and increasingly reliant on technology, how can we minimize the effect of all of that screen time on our mental health? In this episode, we sat down with Dr. Shilagh Mirgain. A psychologist with UW Health to talk about the benefits of getting outside, nature deficit disorder and how you can get a little bit of those benefits of being outdoors, even when you can't get out there. So sit back and listening to learn more.

All right. We are welcoming Dr. Shilagh Mirgain to the show today. Thank you so much for joining us. Uh, can you go ahead and get us started by telling us a little bit about yourself, your background, um, and what it is that you do? 

DR. SHILAGH MIRGAIN: [00:02:02] Thanks, Katie. I'm really honored to be a guest on today's episode. I am a clinical psychologist at UW Health who specializes in health and sports psychology.

I've been at the University of Wisconsin for 15 years and have really um... One of the highlights for me of moving to Wisconsin has been discovering all the amazing outdoor, um, places to go in Wisconsin. And I've just had lots of adventures over the years of discovering, um, what, what is called Wild Wisconsin. All those natural, uh, wilderness areas that really make our state amazing.

KATIE GRANT: [00:02:41] Yeah, it is one of the things that we are truly blessed with here in Wisconsin. And I've, I've talked about this with a lot of, of guests on the show. Um, it's something that I think a lot of Wisconsinites take for granted because, you know, especially if you've grown up here, it's, it's been around you all along and it's easy to take that for granted. What would you say is your favorite part of your job? 

DR. SHILAGH MIRGAIN: [00:03:05] That's a great question. I love helping people. And with my job, I'm really working on the mind-body connection and really harnessing the power of the mind to really improve various health outcomes. I work with chronic medical patients like heart disease or chronic pain, um, injury rehab.

And then as a sports psychologist, I'm also working on that mind-body connection to really fuel optimal performance. And many people you know, we can look to medical management taking the pill, but the favorite part of my job is to have people learn how to use a skill. And a variety of skills from mindfulness to cognitive behavioral therapy to acceptance work can really have profound impacts on people's quality of life and really allow them instead of just surviving to go to thriving and really flourishing.

KATIE GRANT: [00:03:56] Yeah, absolutely. You mentioned that mind-body connection and, um, you know, one of the things that a lot of your articles that we've looked into, uh, talk about is the benefit of spending that time outdoors. Generally speaking, why is getting out in nature, even when it's cold and snowy and you maybe don't want to go out there. Why is that so important to our overall wellbeing? 

DR. SHILAGH MIRGAIN: [00:04:22] It's such a great question and there's that, uh, phrase that nature is the best medicine and there's really some truth to that. And I am often prescribing nature to my patients and there's really robust research on this. Um, for example, one study looked at two groups of walkers.

The two groups went for a walk for just a few minutes, five, ten minutes. The first group went for a walk in the park while the other just walked around the city looking at the city landscape of skyscrapers and sidewalks. And the results were really interesting that they showed that just a short walk in a park and that natural landscape, as little as 10 minutes actually affected participants' brains. The walk helped decrease stress hormones, like cortisol and actually improved thinking and memory. You know, and all of this really goes to suggest that time in nature can help relieve mental fatigue, improve focus and help boost our mood. And I think a real takeaway is that nature is restorative in many ways. And I always say that nature offers us something beyond what human connection can. There's a way when we go into a natural environment that we feel a sense of relief or calm or peace or perspective and it can really enhance our wellbeing.

KATIE GRANT: [00:05:44] Yeah, for sure. And I think this is something that obviously with the COVID-19 pandemic has been kind of top of mind. Um, but this isn't new science. Um, you published an article about this all the way back in 2015. And in that you cited some alarming facts. Uh, the average adult spends more time behind a screen than they do sleeping.

And kids spend as little as 30 minutes in unstructured outdoor play each day but more than seven hours on average in front of a screen. What are some of the consequences of all of this screen time? 

DR. SHILAGH MIRGAIN: [00:06:19] There is a concept that was coined in the book Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv, who said, um, nature deficit disorder, that term Nature Deficit Disorder. And we had it pre-pandemic, but you know, I think everyone can appreciate during the pandemic, our screen time has gone through the roof. Kids are spending all day behind screens if they're doing virtual learning. So many of us adults are working remotely and on Zoom calls all day. And so we're kind of tethered to our screen and it's in part of what has really taken a toll during the pandemic that we are connecting to one another ...