The garden escape – get outside to be inspired

It’s Summer #GardenOfficeWeek

Well, I never knew that about green!

Garden Escape’s sponsored post explains

why it’s so beneficial

to get out of the house

and work in the green of the garden.

Did you know that the human eye is able to distinguish more shades of green than any other colour? Green is the colour of spring; of tree buds and plant shoots; renewal and rebirth. It strikes the human eye in such a way as to require no adjustment of the brain and is deeply restful, serving to create equilibrium between head and heart.

It is a combination of yellow (the colour of the sun, said to endow mental clarity and optimism) and blue (the colour of a cloudless sky and water, which imbues in us emotional calm and insight.) It is the colour of ideas.

Outdoor enthusiasts already know the surge of creativity to be felt whilst enjoying being out in nature. Albert Einstein, who was well known for his fondness of a good yomp whilst refining his thoughts, once said “Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better.”

Not that many of us are likely to come up with anything so enlightening as the Theory of Relativity, but scientists have found that exposure to greenery is good for our mental health and general well-being.

It is calming and restorative and gives us an emotional lift and, In turn, happiness broadens our thought-action repertoire and benefits us physically, intellectually, socially and psychologically.

Many of us do not have the luxury of time to head out for a long hike each time our ideas come in short supply; but just having a view of nature, of living greenery, can keep our creativity flowing.

A Garden Escape home office, with its floor to ceiling windows and bi-folding doors, will not only bathe you in natural light but will also immerse you in the green of your garden.

Whether you work permanently from home, or are one of the many whose employers recognise the benefits of allowing their employees to work away from the distractions of the office some of the time, an inspiring work space can boost your creative potential and allow you to be the best that you can.

And while on the subject of enhancing our productivity, did you also know that scientists in the US found that levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, measured in commuters’ saliva at the end of a typical journey to work, were significantly raised in almost every sample.

Nature only intended these hormones for short term duty in emergency situations: prolonged and cumulative exposure is believed to damage brain cells, impairing our ability to remember and learn and affecting our sleep patterns. Stress is also understood to raise blood pressure and, in the long term, is a significant contributor to the incidence of heart disease.

Furthermore, commuters are more likely to become overweight during the course of their working lives (during which they will have more days off sick) and exhibit a higher than average divorce rate.

The average commute in Britain is (apparently) 47 minutes long, each way. That amounts to an extra working day per week that commuters are losing from their home or working lives, not to mention the appalling waste of talent.

Modern technology means that many of us leading desk and screen based working days do not have to be subjected to this daily depletion of life quantity and quality. The average journey to a Garden Escape office is rarely longer than 47 seconds, giving you ample time to enjoy a leisurely breakfast with your family or to give yourself a great endorphin boost before you start your working day.

Maybe take a leaf out of the book of one of our many happy Garden Escape customers, who has combined his workspace with his favourite means of keeping fit: a bike.

He gets to start the day with his young children who he can then leave to rampage through the family home as noisily and boisterously as they please, while he escapes to his tranquil office-cum-gym and gets on with the serious business of working and working out.