Research has shown that taking time to get out into nature, stopping to smell the roses and growing your own vegetables, provides a positive boost to your mental and physical well-being.

The sights and sounds of nature can calm you down, help you relax, lower your stress levels and boost mood-enhancing serotonin and endorphins.

We spend so much time indoors, Summer is the perfect time to get out and enjoy the outdoors. Even when it's hot -  take advantage of the cooler morning and evenings.

Despite the recent heat, I've been able to get out into the garden every day. Sitting outside reading a book or eating lunch. Gardening when it's cooler or taking a short break between work tasks and calls. Just enough time to get a few things done, dead-heading, watering, weeding.

The benefits of being in and around nature

1.  Achievement: Growing plants from seed gives you a sense of achievement as you nurture, them to produce flowers, vegetables or fruit from a tiny seed into a beautiful plant. I've had a lot of failures when seeds don't even germinate. When they do, you plant them out, see them grow and produce vegetables and flowers.

Even the smallest of spaces can grow a few herbs, a tomato plant in pots, hanging baskets or a few pots on a windowsill. Bring nature inside too with a few indoor houseplants. I've expanded the number of indoor plants this year by propagating a few from cuttings.

2.  Perspective: It gives you something else to focus on. You get a sense of perspective and it takes you away from the busy-ness of everyday life as you concentrate on the task in hand. Breathing in fresh air. Seeing, hearing and smelling the sights and sounds of nature is what we need when you spend so much time at a desk, in front of a computer.

3.  Solve a problem: Step away and do something unassociated with the report you’re trying to write, the complexity of a work project or a problem you’ve been grappling with for the last few hours. Give your mind a break and the time and space to come up with a solution.

4.  Reduce stress: Any form of activity is good, especially when it's outdoors. Even gardening. Digging, pruning, weeding may not equate to running a 5k or a 30 minute HITT class but it's movement. I'll often need to stretch out after a day out in the garden to make sure I don't seize up later in the evening.

It releases feel-good hormones and reduces your stress hormone. Release any negative emotions for good, instead of bottling them up or taking them out on someone else.

5.  Relaxation: You can relax and unwind. Whether you’re working in the garden or just enjoying the space. Take a book and read in the sunshine for half an hour, getting a dose of Vitamin D and fresh air too. Or just sit and listen to the buzz of insects and watching the birds come down to feed and bathe. We're always so busy trying to get everything done, we very rarely give ourselves time to just sit, switch off for a few moments and relax.

I've been sharing images of my own garden on Instagram. It's small but I plant and grow what I can. Tougher in the recent heatwave but the joy of picking and eating your own homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers, is hard to beat. And they taste so much better than anything bought in the supermarket.

Gardening doesn’t have to take up a lot of time, especially if you garden with nature in mind. Nature does better when it isn’t tidy and immaculate. An overgrown corner, seeds left to disperse. You’ll enjoy more wildlife - birds, bees, butterflies and a host of other visitors when you have places for them to feed, shelter, nest and hibernate.

As part of looking after your overall health and wellbeing a couple of hours out in nature or in the garden, is time well spent.

If you don't have a garden, find your nearest green space. A local park or even enjoying the gardens along the way on your daily commute.

Volunteer with a local charity, environment or conservation group. There are plenty around, offering a variety of activities from helping in community gardens, litter picking, scrub clearance and more for various levels of fitness and ability.

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