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Nature's favourite colour: The science behind why we love green

When snipers need to rest and reset their eyesight after hours of staring down a barrel, they stare at a green piece of paper for 10 minutes.Fascinating - but why? The easy answer is that the colour green, is the easiest colour for the human eye to process. Coincidentally, red is the most intrusive (cue traffic lights by design!).The science behind it is fascinating, especially when you start making links with spending time in nature.When you think about colours, green often stands out in w...

Builders team up to go bush

Getting a 5.5metre long, half a tonne slab of wood into the bush requires some top-notch teamwork and strategy.Hamilton-based building company Sentinel Homes were up for the challenge when tasked with purpose building a giant boardroom table destined for the bush-edge of the Coromandel Forest Park.On a sunny October day, the Onetai Bush Boardroom was launched in Hikutaia – the third location for this innovative nature-based offering.The brainchild of outdoor enthusiast Kylie Rae, The Bush Boar...

8 Ideas for Sustainable and Conscious Gifting this Christmas

The start of December means three things to most of us here. Time to break out the jandals (flip flops, thongs), head to the beach for the start of summer and time to start seriously thinking about Christmas and all that entails. If the idea of a whole heap of 'stuff' has you heading for the hills to hide from humanity for the foreseeable future, we've given some thought to some gifts that are lighter on the planet so you can participate in the festive fun without a side of consumerism....

A walk a day keeps your brain ticking away

As little as 40 minutes of walking a day can make a huge difference to your mental health and how efficiently your brain is able to work.The relationship between exercise and brain function has been studied for decades and recent studies here in New Zealand have even shown memory improvements from regular brisk walking.As you age, your brain size and function generally decreases, but frequent walking has been shown to actually increase the size of the brain’s hippocampus (memory drive), as wel...

The best native New Zealand ingredients to use in your home cooking

With people starting to have a greater focus on healthy eating with fresh local produce, New Zealanders might be wondering what ingredients they can cook with from their own backyards. There is an increased interest in indigenous foods right now, especially Māori cuisine and traditional cooking methods.Before the arrival of European settlers and international maritime trade, cooking was based around what could be sourced from the land and surrounding sea. Many traditional Māori dishes mad...

Moving towards Green Prescriptions

Forget booking that indulgent and relaxing spa weekend away, turn to nature to reconnect, rebalance and restore your mind and soul.Those of us who hike regularly, know intuitively the power that taking a hike or a brisk walk in nature can have on our mood.Some have even coined it ‘ecotherapy’, ‘forest therapy’ or ‘nature therapy’. The Japanese have been practising forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku for centuries.It’s not revolutionary that nature has a profound and positive ...