According to a recent survey seventy-five percent of children spend less time outside than the average prison inmate.

Yes, that means Bernie Madoff gets more fresh air than most kindergarteners. Adults aren’t any better. On average, Americans spend 87% of the time indoors and 6% in an enclosed vehicle, probably with the windows up.

There is a cost to all this time spent between four walls. The disconnection from the natural world leads to what author Richard Louv describes as Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD):

Nature-deficit disorder is not a formal diagnosis, but a way to describe the psychological, physical and cognitive costs of human alienation from nature.

The good news is that the cure for NDD is just outside your door.

Here are 6 reasons to get outside more:

1. It calms the mind

Negative thoughts and rumination decrease when people spend time in the great outdoors. Nature provides a positive distraction from endless worry and obsessive rehashing of all the things that went wrong or could go wrong.

2. It improves mood

Nature lifts the spirits and buffers against depression. Taking a walk in the park is especially helpful. The mental health benefits of walking in a natural setting were not observed in those who walked down city streets.

3. It boosts concentration

If your mind is wandering and you cannot seem to get any work done, head to the park. Nature restores mental energy and improves focus. Studies show it also helps reduce symptoms of ADHD in children.

4. It reduces stress

Fresh air is a natural stress reducer and the perfect antidote for the daily grind.

5. It increases awe

When the beauty of the natural world takes your breath away, you become nicer. In a study, people who were asked to look up at a magnificent tree for 60 seconds were more likely to experience awe than those who look at a building of the same height. They were also more likely to help a stranger.

6. It is good for your heart

People who visited a park for just 30 minutes each week were less likely to have high blood pressure. Researchers theorize it switches the body out of “fight or flight” mode and into “rest and digest mode.”

A dose of nature is just what the doctor ordered.

In addition to being annoying, being told to be happy all the time actually backfires. As a society, we have become increasingly intolerant of negative feelings. This “feel-goodism” perpetuates the myth that bad feelings are unacceptable, should be treated with a pill or at the very least controlled and silenced:

This intolerance toward emotional pain puts us at loggerheads with a basic truth about being human: Sometimes we just feel bad, and there’s nothing wrong with that—which is why struggling too hard to control our anxiety and stress only makes things more difficult.

Research shows that a bad mood per se is not the problem. What matters is your attitude toward the bad mood:

Bad moods don’t have an adverse effect on everyone to the same degree. The crucial difference seems to be how much people see that there can be value, meaning and even satisfaction in bad moods—those who appreciate this tend to suffer fewer ill effects from the supposedly dark sides of the psyche.

In other words, having a positive attitude toward a bad mood makes a difference.

Related research highlights the benefits of a good cry. In a study, those who believed welling up with tears is a good way to relieve emotions felt better later on after watching and weeping through a sad movie.

If you are in a funk or particularly bad mood ask yourself, “What can I learn from it?” Channel your inner Sherlock Holmes and do some detective work to figure out what triggered it. Is there something else going on that you need to address? Most importantly, don’t beat yourself up for being in a bad mood. The truth is that occasional bad moods can be part of a good life.

It turns out bad moods can have a bright side.

If the subway is pulling away just as you reach the platform do you take it personally? Will it affect the rest of your day? Do you become angry with yourself for not leaving earlier? Does self-loathing spill over into other areas in your life?

Alternatively, do you shrug off the missed train and think to yourself surely another one is on the way? As annoying as it may be, you don’t let it cast a shadow over the rest of your day or affect your mood.

How we respond to life’s curveballs—both big and small— is known as our explanatory style. It has broad implications for our physical and mental health.

In Learned Optimism, Martin Seligman discusses explanatory style in depth. He describes three crucial dimensions: Permanence, Pervasiveness and Personalization – the three poisonous Ps:

Permanence

Believing that the causes of bad events are unchangeable is a pessimistic explanatory style. In comparison, people who resist helplessness believe the causes of bad events are time-limited and apply to the situation at a given moment. Permanent explanations for bad events produce long-lasting helplessness whereas temporary explanations foster resilience.

Pervasiveness

Over-generalizing—the tendency to make universal explanations—when bag things happen is a pessimistic way to approach a challenge. Rather than persevering, people with this explanatory style tend to give up quickly when failure strikes. On the other hand, recognizing that failure in one area doesn’t necessarily predict failure in another keeps things in perspective and is a reminder to keep on trying.

Personalization

When bad things happen, even things beyond their control, “personalizers” tend to blame themselves and feel helpless. Not taking things too personally is a more effective strategy if you want to stay hopeful and optimistic.

Avoiding these The Three Poisonous Ps — the thinking traps outlined above — engenders a positive outlook and a “can do” attitude.  As we have written about before, mindsets are powerful and can shape our behavior and experience.

In summary, don’t take things personally, always maintain perspective and see the potential beyond adversity.

Think of a setback as a challenge not an exclamation point.

Can a role model really make a difference? Absolutely. Having someone to look up to who models positive behavior builds resilience. Studies show that adolescents with an identifiable role model have higher grades and greater self-esteem than those who don’t.

The following example highlights just how powerful and inspiring a role model can be.

In 2009 Michelle Obama visited the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (EGA) school, a London public school for girls, many of who come from low-income families. Mrs. Obama didn’t give a generic speech about being a good student. Instead she spoke to the girls about her own experience growing up in a poor neighborhood in Chicago with few options. She talked about how she overcame challenges and made school a priority. Through hard work, she told them how she found a way out and made it to Princeton, to Harvard Law School and ultimately landed a job at a prestigious law firm.

In her words:

…there was nothing in my story that would land me here. I wasn’t raised with wealth or resources or any social standing to speak of. If you want to know the reason why I’m standing here, it’s because of education. I never cut class. I liked being smart. I loved being on time. I loved getting my work done. I thought being smart was cooler than anything in the world.

Mrs. Obama kept in touch. Two years later she met with the same students at Oxford and told them, “it’s important that you know this – all of us believe that you belong here.”

The students took Mrs. Obama’s inspirational message to heart. Following their interaction with the First Lady, their academic performance significantly improved. The girls did much better than their peers across London suggesting the results were specific to EGA (Elizabeth Garrett Anderson). Economist Simon Burgess analyzed exam results and found dramatic improvement in test scores that could not be explained by any other interventions at the school. Of course it is possible that it was just a coincidence or that the teachers did something different with the class but Mr. Burgess thinks otherwise:

The bulk of the evidence reported here supports the idea that GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education—an exam taken in the equivalent of 11^th grade) performance at EGA improved substantially following Michelle Obama’s visits.

Mrs. Obama’s inspiration story boosted the students’ belief in their own potential and capacity to succeed. As Burgess concludes, an “I did this, you can too” can be a powerful message indeed.

Pretty much everyone hates Mondays but there is an excellent reason to feel a little less hostile towards the first day of the week. According to research from the University of Pennsylvania, Mondays are the perfect day to tackle a new goal because you are more naturally motivated at the beginning of a new week to make a positive change.

People are more likely to visit the gym, to think about their health, to commit to pursue a new goal like quitting smoking and to Google the word “diet” on Mondays. Of course there are dozens of new beginnings throughout the year – New Year’s, birthdays, the first day of the month, and a new semester when aspirational behavior peaks—but Mondays are weekly opportunities to start anew and harness the motivation that accompanies a new beginning. Even if you cannot sustain the “new you” this week, opportunities to try again abound.

Psychologists call this “the fresh start effect.” Every Monday is an opportunity to leave the past behind and to start over. It’s the psychological equivalent of pressing the refresh button. Researchers believe these “turn the page” days have a positive effect because they provide perspective and take us off autopilot. As the researchers explain, Mondays are:

…temporal landmarks [that] interrupt attention to day-to-day minutiae, causing people to take a big-picture view of their lives and thus focus more on achieving their goals.

Psychologically, Mondays are a blank slate, a brand new start. When you reframe Monday as an opportunity to adopt a new habit and initiate a positive change rather than repetition of the same old stuff, you no longer need to dread them quite as much.