Improves brain functioning, reduces stress, improves physical condition. These are just some of the advantages to setting off for the fields on holidays.

How often, upon returning from holidays, do we feel even more tired than when we left? That happens because we go on vacation to tour cities and gather experiences with a vertiginous voracity, which, in the end, makes us feel worse than better – contrary to what we expect.

Therefore, when stress consumes us, and all we need is a little bit of silence, the best thing to do is spend the holidays in the middle of nature, where unwinding and relaxing are the order of the day. In fact, these types of holidays are very beneficial to our mental health and the organism in general. Read about some of the advantages and you will see that you will want to go to the fields for the holidays – in the Historical Villages of Portugal in the Portuguese Beira Alta, for example.

1 – Nature is Beneficial to the Brain

Time spent in nature improves brain functioning, helping us to focus and remember better. An article in the Boston Globe from 2009 revealed that hospitalized patients recover more rapidly when they can see trees from the windows. Scientists say that even these fleeting glimpses of nature improve brain performance, providing a mental rupture to the cognitive processing demands of urban environments.

2 – Nature Helps Us  Deal With Stress

A report from the Children & Nature Network warns that children’s mental health in the 21st century is at risk because they are losing exposure to the natural world from past generations. The report’s author, Dr. William Bird, health advisor of Natural England, compiled evidence that people are healthier and better adjusted when they go out to fields, parks, and gardens. Bird says that studies demonstrate that people deprived of contact with nature run a greater risk of depression and anxiety, while stress levels fall a few minutes after seeing green spaces. Holidays with the family immersed in nature (ideally, without technological distractions) can reconnect parents and children, calm the nerves, and help everyone relax.

3 – Time Spent in Nature Helps Us Stay in Shape

When we go to nature for the holidays, we climb mountains, run with dogs, row in kayaks. The less time we spend outdoors, the heavier we become as a result. Our society faces a series of illnesses called “indoor life illnesses” that frequently accompany obesity: Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, asthma, liver disease, as well as vitamin D deficiency, osteoporosis, myopia, and depression.

4 – Nature Offers Adventure and Discovery

Through nature, so many little children rediscover the world, far from the television, cell phone, and tablet screens. The real world is outside, where the animals, trees, and nature’s wonders are, which are born and developed without the hand of Man.

5 – Nature is Disappearing – Enjoy It While You Can

Some of the most fascinating places in the world are threatened or are about to disappear due to climate changes, and it is best we take advantage of the opportunity to visit them. Fortunately, this is not the case for the Historical Villages of Portugal. Thanks to the ecological preoccupations of these 12 villages, where preserving nature and heritage is a priority, the people of these villages are convinced that it will be possible to receive visitors ready to enjoy these places’ natural beauty during many years. And that’s very reassuring – because these villages are unique, and there is nothing better than going on an adventure through its green fields.