6 Great Benefits of a Green Lifestyle
Sure, going green is good for the environment, but did you know that it can also have many other benefits? Here are some ways that adopting a green lifestyle can positively impact other parts of your life.
Lower Utility Bills
Let’s face it, no one enjoys paying high utility bills. Many of the lifestyle changes that help the environment can also help your wallet. Many strategies to reduce energy consumption can pay for themselves over time.
Small changes, from insulating windows to adjusting your thermostat a few degrees, should help bills start inching down. Larger investments in renewable energy, like installing solar panels for your home or business, can have a bigger impact.
This can move beyond bills related to your home, too. Using renewable energy for transportation can lead to lower gas and repair bills.
More Positive Outlook
Adopting tenets of a green lifestyle can have serious implications for your mental outlook. To start, you are taking charge of your future by engaging in activities that can make it, and the environment, better. That helps provide empowerment.
Increased time spent outdoors, a huge side benefit of green living, also boosts mood-enhancing hormones like serotonin. When you spend time outdoors, your outlook tends to become rosier.
Improved Air Quality
You may breathe a little easier once you start adopting green lifestyle changes. While extra time outdoors may contribute to this, it is indoor air quality improvements that let your actions shine.
Natural building and decorating materials can contribute to lower levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in your home, which may result in improvements to your indoor air quality.
If you are starting a remodel, look for paint, furniture, and flooring that is labeled low VOC to encourage a healthier indoor environment. Using green cleaners and avoiding harsh chemicals or products with heavy fragrances can also help. Of course, regularly changing or cleaning your home’s HCAV filter can boost air quality and help the system run more efficiently.
Stronger Businesses
A major aspect of going green is reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Enter the shop local movement. Supporting small, local businesses reduce the need for transporting goods over sometimes incomprehensible distances from producer to consumer. Not only that, but you are also directly supporting a local family so they can reinvest in your community.
Consider the farm to table trend as an example. When businesses serve food that goes directly from the producer to your table, they directly support that produce. Your tomatoes can go from the field to a market table to your salad within miles of where they first sprouted. That is a far cry from the winter veggies that may have traveled thousands of miles to get to your local restaurant.
Healthier Skin
We don’t want to seem superficial, but there are just so many ways that adopting a green lifestyle can lead to healthier skin. First, increased water intake (instead of sugary or artificially flavored sodas) helps you stay hydrated and glowing.
Stepping away from harmful chemicals also gives your skin a chance to breathe and regenerate, so that newer, fresher looking cells emerge in place of dried, dead ones.
Harnessing the power of natural extracts and oils can provide a boost of all-natural love for your skin, too. Look for products that shy away from petroleum distillates or, if you’re up for a challenge, try making your own skincare products.
Increased Exercise
Walking or riding a bicycle in place of getting behind the wheel can lead to a lot more steps every day. And transportation isn’t the only way you’ll get in some extra exercise. If your new lifestyle includes tending to a garden, you may find that it can provide a better workout than your favorite class at the gym.
You don’t have to jump in headfirst to see the benefits of being more eco-conscious. Even small steps toward greener living can have surprising benefits. Who knows, as you start to notice them more and more, you may find yourself ready to take on bigger changes, too.
