EXPOSURE TO NATURE PROVIDES A MYRIAD OF HEALTH BENEFITS

Having a strong immune system is vital to a healthy life.   We have evolved an incredible defense system to help keep everything from the common cold to cancer at bay and when our defenses are down, our health is at risk.  Interacting with nature can be instrumental in keeping our immunity strong and our lives invigorated.

There are several factors that play a role in having a strong immune system, all of which nature can help support.  Factors such as having enough sleep, exercise, a good diet, no to little stress and feeling part of a caring community. 

Aside from the evening silence that nature innately provides for a restful night, there is a growing body of research which also suggests that spending time in nature may improve sleep by resetting our internal clocks to a natural sleep cycle.  Aligning with the natural  sunlight of the day has a direct impact on our melatonin levels which is an essential hormone that is pivotal to good sleep.  A ground breaking study also suggests that two hours of forest walking or Forest Bathing increased duration of sleep and self-reported sleep quality amongst participants.  It is hard to deny that having enough good quality sleep with nature’s help supports our immune functions.

Exercise is key to having a good immune system; nature supports and encourages being active in an expansive and softly fascinating environment.  It may not just be exercise, but ‘green exercise’ that most benefits our health.  There is a recent and fascinating study that shows that the color green, as a primitive feature of visual sensation, has a contributory effect toward positive green exercise outcomes such as having less tension and improved mood.  

There are still relatively few studies of the effects of nutrition on the immune system and even fewer studies that tie the effects of nutrition directly to the development of diseases but one can use common sense:  Eating good food from nature makes for a healthy body.  To state the obvious and in the most general of terms, food comes from nature and the more we consume food that is closer to the source without the use of man made chemicals and the fresher the food is, the better our health and immune systems can be.

Being in nature and exposured to nature imagery has been shown to reduce our stress levels in quantifiable ways.  Measurements of stress hormones, respiration, heart rate, and sweating suggest that short doses of nature or even pictures of the natural world can calm people down.  We all have experienced the state of calm that washes over us in a forest or on a beach.  Your immune system thanks you.

Being part of a caring community increases our social support and studies show may contribute to our health and longevity.   It’s not clear why yet, but one theory holds that people who enjoy close relationships with family and friends receive emotional support that indirectly helps to sustain their immunity at times of chronic stress and crisis.  Being part of a community of humans is wonderful, but let’s not forget the sense of belonging to nature as a whole.  While we strengthen our connection and relationships to nature and to the communities of wildlife and plants, we may also be building a life enhancing social net that can contribute to our good health.  More research is needed to support this latter theory.

For your health and wellbeing, spend time thinking about, looking at and being in nature.  Your immune system will thank you.

The Studies:

• Fourteen healthy male participants with normal color vision were recruited for this study where participants exercised on a stationary bike while looking at a simulated natural environment.  they were required to watch a video of 1.  a “green outdoor environment” cycling course with greenery, 2. the same footage presented achromatically as blank and white, and 3. The same footage using a red filter. Participants were required to rest between video trials until their cardiorespiratory measures had returned to post warm-up levels. Heart rate, oxygen uptake, respiratory exchange ratio, and ratings of perceived exertion were recorded during the last 30 s of each 5-min cycling trial.  This was the first study to show that the color green, as a primitive feature of visual sensation, has a contributory effect toward positive green exercise outcomes.

• In a study in Japan by Q Li and colleagues, 12 healthy men between the ages of 37 and 55 took a three-day, two-night trip to the forest. On the first day, the men spent two hours in the afternoon walking in the forest. On the second day, they walked in the forest for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. Blood samples tested on days two and three showed that in 11 of the 12 men there was a 50 percent increase in natural killer cells. NK cells play a major role in the host-rejection of both tumours and virally infected cells.  Further studies have shown that these positive immune benefits can last up to a month after a visit to the woods.

• “Nature Exposure and Its Effects on Immune System Functioning: A Systematic Review” (2021) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7913501/#:~:text=Nature%20Exposure%20and%20Immune%20System,influence%20immunoregulatory%20pathways%20%5B16%5D. 

  Andersen, Corazon, & Stigsdotter (2021) examined 33 studies that discussed the effects of nature exposure on different factors of immune system functioning in both humans and animals. The research focus of the selected studies included nature exposure effects on increases in NK (natural killer) cell activity, anti-allergen, anti-asthma, and anti-inflammatory aspects of immune system functioning. All 33 study results showed to have positive effects on at least one of these effects, and positive results of increased NK cell activity appeared to be the most common among the study results. 

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Sources:

https://experiencelife.com/article/how-forests-boost-immunity/
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/03946320070200S202
https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/10-immune-system-busters
boosters#1https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56e9367020c64742fe062659/t/56f12bf0e707eb7a5c1437e5/
458646020963/visual+colour+perception+in+green+exercise.pdf
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-to-boost-your-immune-system
https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/natural_killer_cell.htm
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/01/call-to-wild/
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response
http://time.com/4656550/camping-sleep-insomnia/

There is a strong correlation between spending time in Nature and feelings of increased energy and vitality.  Fresh air, natural light, soothing sounds and many other factors unique to the outdoors combine to create this amazing effect.

Research shows that people with feelings of increased energy levels have a greater resiliency to physical illnesses.  Nature may be the path to achieving such states of health and wellness.  What is compelling is that even thoughts of Nature can have a positive effect on our bodies.  By spending more time and thinking about Nature there develops a deeper connection with the natural world.   And with a greater sense of nature connectedness, it has been shown that pro-environmental behavior, feelings of life satisfaction, vitality and happiness are elevated.

Instead of reaching for that afternoon cup of coffee, consider taking a stroll outdoors.  Also, just closing your eyes and thinking about fond feelings of Nature could help energize the soul.

The Studies:

• The University of Rochester conducted five separate experiments, involving 537 college students in actual and imagined contexts. Experiment 1:  Participants were led on a 15-minute walk through indoor hallways or along a tree-lined river path. Experiement 2:  Participants viewed photographic scenes of buildings or landscapes. Experiement 3:  Students were told to imagine themselves in a variety of situations both active and sedentary, inside and out, and with and without others.  Two final experiments tracked participants’ moods and energy levels throughout the day using diary entries. Over either four days or two weeks, students documented their exercise, time spent outside, social interactions, and exposure to natural environments, including plants and windows.  Across all 5 methodologies, individuals consistently felt more energetic when they spent time in natural settings or imagined themselves in such situations.

• The Wildlife Trusts developed a mass engagement campaign, 30 Days Wild. The campaign asked people to engage with nature every day for a month. 12,400 people signed up for 30 Days Wild via an online sign-up with an estimated 18,500 taking part overall, resulting in an estimated 300,000 engagements with nature by participants. What they found was that Nature connectedness is associated with pro-environmental behavior and aspects of human well-being, such as life satisfaction, vitality and happiness.

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Sources:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-michael-j-breus/low-on-vitamin-d-sleep-suffers_b_9332008.html
http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=3639

Good sleep is essential to our health and well-being.  Natural sunlight during the daylight hours and the lulling quietude of  nature at night make for a perfect recipe of a good night’s sleep.

As a species, the majority of our evolution has been in tandem with the natural cycles of the earth and its relation to the sun.  What has evolved in humans and in most living organisms to this day is a circadian rhythm or otherwise known as a biological clock.

Melatonin is a hormone that is released in preparation for sleep and is triggered by the absence of light.   When the sun goes down, the body says time to sleep.  But with the advent of artificial light and more recently, computer and device screens, our circadian rhythms are out of whack.  What’s interesting is people fall back into their natural circadian rhythms if they spend time in conjunction with the natural light in less than a week.

Research is ongoing about how being in nature effects the quality of sleep.  Being in the sun seems to help our biological clocks and levels of vitamin D which Oxford University research indicates may be essential for maintaining a healthy sleep.  Along with proper food intake or supplements, the sun on our skin is the only way for us to absorb the essential nutrition.

Being outdoors also lends itself to being physically active.  As little as 10 minutes of exercise a day can dramatically improve the quality of sleep.  That includes a walk in the woods of course.

If you’re not sleeping well or enough, intentionally expose yourself to the daylight by taking a walk outdoors, preferably in a greenspace.  If that doesn’t do the trick, go big and camp out for 3 nights and you’ll most likely sleep like a baby.

The Studies:

• Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan funded a research with 71 healthy volunteers (43 men and 28 women). Two-hour forest-walking sessions were conducted on 8 different weekend days from September through December 2005. Sleep conditions were compared between the nights before and after walking in a forest by self-administered questionnaire and actigraphy data.  It was found that forest walking improved nocturnal sleep conditions for individuals with sleep complaints, possibly as a result of exercise and emotional improvement.

• ‘Researchers studied the sleep patterns of 6 men and 2 women, with an average age of 30. They observed and measured their subjects’ daytime and nighttime activity during a normal week. Participants wore wrist monitors that recorded their sleep and their waking activity, as well as their exposure to light and the timing of light exposure. The study subjects then spent another week camping in Colorado’s Eagles’ Nest Wilderness. During their week of camping, they were exposed only to natural light—sunlight during the day, and moonlight and campfire light at night. During this week, participants had no exposure to artificial light, including flashlights. Researchers took the same series of measurements of their daytime activity, nighttime sleep, and timing and amount of exposure to light. In addition, at the end of each of the two weeks, researchers measured melatonin levels.’ What they found was that participants circadian clocks began to align and differences in sleep patterns the participants had before the study virtually vanished.

• Researches systematically reviewed the medical literature and performed a meta-analysis of twenty trials involving 732 participants.  Four electronic databases were systematically searched for the period before May 2016 with language restriction of English and Japanese. The review considered all published, randomized, controlled trials, cohort studies, and comparative studies that evaluated the effects of the forest environment on changes in systolic blood pressure.  Systolic blood pressure of the forest environment was significantly lower than that of the non-forest environment. Additionally, diastolic blood pressure of the forest environment was significantly lower than that of the non-forest environment.

• “Circadian Entrainment to the Natural Light-Dark Cycle Across Seasons and the Weekend” (2017) https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(16)31522-6

  Stothard et al. (2017) studied changes in the circadian rhythm of participants in a modern, electrical lighting environment and a natural environment (camping in the Rocky Mountains in the winter) in the first study, and repeated the same procedure with a different group in the summer. The first study consisted of 5 participants and the second study consisted of 14 participants. Participants’ melatonin rhythms were monitored before and after 6-7 days in each environment. In the first study, in the natural environment with natural lighting, participants were exposed to 13 times the amount of illuminance levels and higher levels of blue, red, and green lighting during awake hours than those who were in the artificial lighting group. In the second study, those in the camping group were exposed to four times the luminescence levels during awake hours than when in electrical lighting. The researchers concluded that living in electrical lighting reduces the responsiveness of circadian rhythm by delaying when the biological night begins in both summer and winter. In addition, melatonin rhythm adapts to long winter nights and short summer days when regularly exposed to a natural light-dark cycle.

• “Relationship Between Sleep Duration, Sun Exposure, and Serum 25-Hydroxyvitatmin D Status: A Cross-Sectional Study” (2020) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-61061-8 
• Choi et al. (2020) expanded upon the research regarding the relationship between sun exposure, vitamin D status, and sleep duration. The researchers analyzed data collected from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which included 14,490 participants. Sleep duration and daily sun exposure data were collected through self report, while vitamin D status was collected through blood samples. Data was separated into a normal-range sleep group (6-9 hours), sleep insufficient sleep group (less than 6 hours), and excessive sleep group (more than 10 hours). The results showed a significant correlation between sun exposure and vitamin D status, as well as that participants with excessive sleep duration and insufficient sun exposure had lower levels of vitamin D.
• “Time Spent in Outdoor Light is Associated with Mood, Sleep, and Circadian Rhythm-Related Outcomes: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Study in Over 400,000 UK Biobank Participants” (2021) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032721008612?via%3Dihub 

  Burns et al. (2021) conducted a cross-sectional, longitudinal study to examine the effects of time spent in natural, outdoor daylight on sleep, mood, and circadian rhythms. Participants consisted of 502,000 UK residents between the ages of 37 and 73 years old. Self-reports of time spent in outdoor daylight resulted in an average of 2.5 hours per day. For each additional hour of time spent in daylight per day, there was a correlation with a lower risk of low mood, major depressive disorder, antidepressant usage, lower neuroticism, and higher levels of happiness. Less frequent fatigue/tiredness and decreased symptoms of insomnia were also found to be associated with greater time spent in outdoor daylight. 

Sources:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-michael-j-breus/low-on-vitamin-d-sleep-suffers_b_9332008.html
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sleep-newzzz/201308/could-camping-help-your-insomnia
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3216244/

There is a growing body of research that shows a lowering of blood pressure after a walk in a natural area such as forest.  Parsing out all variables is a challenge for scientists but the results are compelling nonetheless and lean into the idea of Nature as a powerful elixir.

So what is it about Nature that is attributed to changing our metabolic state?  Researchers in Japan speculated that its the phytoncides that we breath in from coniferous trees.  Phytoncides are the hormone chemicals emitted from trees to ward off infectious diseases, acting much like a natural disinfectant.  When we breath in the aroma, our body reacts in curious ways.  Aside from increased activity in the parasympathetic (responsible for stimulation of “rest-and-digest” or “feed and breed” activities during restful states) activity and a reduction in sympathetic (which activates the fight or flight response) activity in humans, blood pressure has been shown to drop.

If you have high blood pressure, consider incorporating walks in Nature, practicing Forest Bathing and Nature Mindfulness Walks as part of your treatment.  See if your doctor agrees.

The Studies:

• Researchers at the Nippon Medical School in Tokyo took 16 healthy male subjects on two day trips a week apart. In one, they walked for two hours in a forest; in the other, they walked for two hours in “an urban area of Tokyo.” At 8 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on each of the days, the researchers took a barrage of measurements, including blood and urine samples. The results clearly show a reduction of blood pressure.

• Researches systematically reviewed the medical literature and performed a meta-analysis of twenty trials involving 732 participants.  Four electronic databases were systematically searched for the period before May 2016 with language restriction of English and Japanese. The review considered all published, randomized, controlled trials, cohort studies, and comparative studies that evaluated the effects of the forest environment on changes in systolic blood pressure.  Systolic blood pressure of the forest environment was significantly lower than that of the non-forest environment. Additionally, diastolic blood pressure of the forest environment was significantly lower than that of the non-forest environment.

• “Physiological and Psychological Effects of Nature Experiences in Different Forests on Young People” (2021) https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/10/1391/htm 

  Liu et al. (2021) explored the potential effects of nature experiences in different types of forests on psychological and physiological health and restoration. A deciduous forest, coniferous forest, mixed forest, and urban setting were used for the study. Blood pressure and heart rates were monitored among the 30 participants, and they completed a variety of psychological assessments before and after walking and sitting in each setting. The researchers concluded that all forest types resulted in lowered blood pressure, heart rate, decreased negative emotions, and increased positive emotions, although the mixed forest had the most significant effects on lowering blood pressure and heart rate and increasing vitality. Those in the coniferous forest experienced the greatest improvement in positive mental health and restoration.

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21431424
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28814305

Inflammation is our body’s response to injury and pathogens and in acute and chronic cases have been shown to lead to heart disease, diabetes, lung issues, bone health, depression, cancer, anger disorders and aggressive behavior.  Nature is here to help.

Amongst others, contributing factors to the development of chronic inflammation are excess weight, lack of exercise, stress and air pollution.  Getting out into nature and walking can help remedy all of these factors. 

Living and spending time amongst the trees can dramatically improve the quality of the air.  Trees and plants contribute to the air by releasing terpene compounds or phytoncides into the environment and these compounds have been shown to help relieve and prevent inflammation.  Most studied of these natural chemicals is α-pinene which is found in the oils of coniferous trees, most notably pine.  Trees and forests also filter the air of pollutant particulates and  provide shade thus reducing the temperature and cases of respiratory distress.

With Forest Bathing, you put yourself in an optimal environment and state of mind for healing the body and soothing the mind.  Learn to forest bathe and here’s to your good health.

The Studies:

• At the study by the Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Geriatrics & Geriatrics Institute of Zhejiang Province, twenty-four elderly patients with essential hypertension were randomly divided into two groups of 12. One group was sent to a broad-leaved evergreen forest to experience a 7-day/7-night trip, and the other was sent to a city area in Hangzhou for control.  The baselines of the indicators of inflammation of the subjects were not significantly different. After the 7 days, little alteration in the detected indicators in the city group was observed while the group exposed to the forest environment showed a significant reduction in blood pressure in comparison to that of the city group.  The results  provided direct evidence that forest bathing has therapeutic effects on human hypertension and induces inhibition of the renin-angiotensin system and inflammation, and thus inspiring its preventive efficacy against cardiovascular disorders. , Zhejiang Hospital, Hangzhou 310013, Zhejiang Province, PR China.

• At the Zhejiang Hospital & Zhejiang Provincial Key Lab of Geriatrics in China, twenty healthy male university students participated as subjects and were randomly divided into two groups of 10. One group was sent on a two-night trip to a broad-leaved evergreen forest, and the other was sent to a city area. Subjects exposed to the forest environment showed reduced oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory level.

• A study from Lancaster University, in the U.K quantified how well trees act as air purifiers against particulate matter from exhaust.  The first measured the pollutants evident in residential homes in Lancaster and then placed a screen of 30 young silver birch trees in wooden planters in front of four of the houses, including one of the control houses, for 13 days. Results from from all eight houses showed that ones with the tree screens had 52 to 65% lower concentrations of metallic particles. The silver birches trapped the metallic particles before they entered the homes

Sources:

https://www.livescience.com/52344-inflammation.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22948092
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22840583
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4548093/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4548093/
http://colinchamp.com/forest-bathing/
https://cen.acs.org/articles/91/web/2013/11/Trees-Capture-Particulate-Matter-Road.html?type=paidArticleContent

Exercise is one of the best activities and detergents of obesity amongst children and adults.   What is being discovered is that green exercise and play is even better for us.

Researches are showing that time spent outdoors either playing, walking or recreating can lead to better health as opposed to the same activities done inside.   There are a number of possible explanations as to why.  The environmental factors such as the high count of negative ions in the air we breath and the wind, temperature and terrain resistance we can only experience outside. 

People feel better exercising in nature which makes for amore enjoyable experience and one that is more likely to be repeated.  As opposed to working out in a gym with other people and mirrors around them, in nature people can feel less judged and have better self-esteem exercising. 

With children, free and open play in nature brings on feelings of freedom, creativity, and curiosity.  Anyone who’s ever witnessed a class of children bursting outdoors for recess into a school yard filled with grass and trees knows that they love the outdoors.  Having easy access to close-by green spaces for children to play in and experience is directly related to lower body mass index (BMI).

If you’re having a hard time getting out to take a walk in nature, don’t let “nocebo” effect get you.  Opposite of the placebo effect, nocebo is when you have a negative experience because of a pre-supposed negative forecast of the event.  Think of the positive aspects of nature that you’ll experience to help you get outdoors to start moving your body.

The Studies:

• At the University of Washington, Indiana University-Purdue University and Indiana University School of Medicine researches  followed over two years, more than 3800 children, predominantly African-American and poor, aged 3-16.  They used data from satellite imaging to measure vegetation coverage and found that higher ‘greenness’ was strongly associated with lower body mass index (BMI) changes in those children.

• In a landmark 1980 study, U.S. psychologists James Pennebaker and Jean Lightner compared the performance of novice joggers on two 1,800-metre trails:  One through a forested area and the other through a non-forested area. The study’s adult subjects were told to jog at their own pace and they had to complete both courses with a 10 day period.  What they discovered was that the woods running participants’ completion times were much faster and they experience more enjoyment and satisfaction and less psychological stress and pain.

•  In a 2011 study, University of Texas researchers evaluated the performances of 128 track and field athletes at four venues during a spring competition season. Each venue had been rated on a “greenness” scale.  Their result: Performances were best in the areas with the most greenness.

• “GPS-Based Exposure to Greenness and Walkability and Accelerometry-Based Physical Activity” (2018) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5436046/ 

  James et al. (2018) explored the correlation between physical activity and GPS-based greenness. 360 women across the United States wore a GPS device and accelerometer (devices that measure vibration/acceleration of motion of a person or object) on their hip for 7 days. The devices recorded location and physical activity every minute. The results showed that higher levels of physical activity occurred in areas containing a greater amount of greenness and walkability.

Sources:

https://www.elsevier.com/about/press-releases/research-and-journals/green-neighborhoods-may-reduce-childhood-obesity
http://www.recorder.ca/2013/09/26/boost-your-fitness-routine-and-well-being-by-exercising-outdoors

Myopia or nearsightedness has become increasingly more common in the recent years.  Although possibly attributed at to a genetic predisposition, many eye doctors feel the development of myopia has something to do with eye fatigue from computer use and other extended near vision tasks.

Most at risk of this development of vision are children and adolescents.  As kids spend more of their waking hours in front of screens and mobile devices, their eyes try to adapt to the changes brought on by this modern technology.  A correlation of increased screen time and myopia is hard to ignore but may be harder to prove.  But more and more, studies are showing with stark results that the more children spend in the outdoors, the less likely they will develop the impairment of nearsightedness.  One University of Cambridge study even developed a formula: There is a 2% reduced odds of myopia per additional hour of time spent outdoors per week.

Encourage outdoor play as much as possible with your children and as little screen time as possible as they grow their vision during their formative years.

The Studies:

• An Australian study that followed one thousand seven hundred sixty-five 6-year-olds (year 1) and 2367 12-year-olds (year 7) in the Sydney Myopia Study from 2003 to 2005. Their results were that more time spent outdoors (rather than playing sports indoors) was associated with a lower prevalence of myopia among 12-year-olds.

• Researchers in Taiwan studied two nearby schools where myopia was equally common amongst 7-11 year olds. For one year, the interventions consisted of performing a recess outside the classroom (ROC) program that encouraged children to go outside for outdoor activities during recess. The control school did not have any special programs during recess.  After 1 year, new onset of myopia was significantly lower in the ROC group (8.41%) than in the control group (17.65%)

• “Association Between Myopia, Ultraviolet B Radiation Exposure, Serum Vitamin D Concentrations, and Genetic Polymorphisms in Vitamin D Metabolic Pathways in a Multicountry European Study” (2017) https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/fullarticle/2588252 

  Williams et al. (2017) analyzed the association between myopia (nearsightedness), ultraviolet B radiation exposure, serum vitamin D concentrations, and genetic variants in vitamin D pathways in northern and southern Europe. Participants consisted of 4166 European people aged 65 and older. Each participant attended an eye exam, completed a questionnaire, and gave blood samples. The eye exam results showed that 371 out of the 4166 participants had myopia. The results of the study showed that increased UVB exposure was associated with a reduction of myopia, especially in adolescence and young adulthood.

Sources:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161642012010755
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161642007013644
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22809757
http://www.businessinsider.com/scientific-benefits-of-nature-outdoors-2016-4/#4-reduced-inflammation-4

There are more than 100 types of cancer, A complex group of diseases with many possible causes.  But there is encouraging news that through exposure to nature and through practices such as Forest Bathing could help combat the onset of many forms of cancer.

Being in nature invites having a healthy and active lifestyle with a strong immune system. Specifically, our absorption of the sun’s Vitamin D may actually have protective effects against cancer, Epidemiologic studies are suggesting. 

One promising area of research suggests that spending time in nature through forest bathing may increase our NK cell count which is essential to fighting off virally infected cells.  With a higher count of Natural killer cells (NK cells), which are a type of white blood cell, our immune system operates at its optimal capacity.  More research is surely going to be dedicated to this intriguing link between our immune functions and the supportive health effects of nature.

To get your daily dose of Vitamin D to support your immune function, consider taking a walk in the forest and exposing your arms and legs to the sun for 10-15 minutes.  But don’t overexpose yourself.  Too much sun can also be damaging to your skin and health.

The Studies:

• At the Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, ’Twelve healthy male subjects, age 37-55 years, were selected with informed consent from three large companies in Tokyo, Japan. The subjects experienced a three-day/two-night trip in three different forest fields. On the first day, subjects walked for two hours in the afternoon in a forest field; and on the second day, they walked for two hours in the morning and afternoon, respectively, in two different forest fields. Blood was sampled on the second and third days, and NK activity; proportions of NK, T cells, granulysin, perforin, and granzymes A/B-expressing cells in PBL were measured. Similar measurements were made before the trip on a normal working day as the control. Almost all of the subjects (11/12) showed higher NK activity after the trip (about 50 percent increased) compared with before. There are significant differences both before and after the trip and between days 1 and 2 in NK activity. The forest bathing trip also significantly increased the numbers of NK, perforin, granulysin, and granzymes A/B-expressing cells. Taken together, these findings indicate that a forest bathing trip can increase NK activity, and that this effect at least partially mediated by increasing the number of NK cells and by the induction of intracellular anti-cancer proteins.’

Sources:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/a-prescription-for-better-health-go-alfresco
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17903349
https://www.webmd.com/cancer/default.htm

So many aspects of our longevity has to do with stress.  Being in Nature helps reduce stress and research has shown that even living close to greenspaces can lower mortality rates amongst the population.

Being in and around nature is not a guarantee to living a longer life but there is a strong correlation that it just may help.  Whether it’s the pure air, the color green itself, the pleasing patterns of nature, the absence of daily stress triggers or the open invitation to exercise and explore,  Nature holds a key to a healthy longer life.

Frequently visit the park for a walk or the neighborhood forest for a sitting and simply spend time there.

The Studies:

• Researchers from Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital examined more than 108,000 women enrolled in the Nurse’s Health Study, a nationwide investigation into risk factors for major chronic diseases in women, from 2000 to 2008.  They compared risk of death with the amount of vegetation near the women’s homes and found that women living in the greenest areas had a 12% lower death rate than women living in the least green areas. The levels of vegetation were determined using satellite imagery from different seasons and years.

Sources:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/22/health/living-near-nature-linked-to-longer-lives/index.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/24/health/results-are-in-nature-walks/

By having access to nature, even simply a view through a window can help with your body’s healing capabilities.

Hospitals are increasingly understanding nature and nature imagery can only improve their patients’ experience and actually improve their recovery time.   Through visitor gardens, photographs of nature and rooms with views of trees, patients can reduce their levels of pain and stress and concurrently boost their immune system in ways that allow their own body and other treatments to help heal.  Nature is less demanding of our directed attention and gently invites us to engage our involuntary attention which requires little mental energy expenditure.  When we are less taxed mentally we can have more of an opportunity to heal.

If you are recovering from a surgery or illness, try to experience nature in its many forms as much as your willing to possibly help with your healing.

The Studies:

• In a landmark study by Roger S. Ulrich in 1984, the researcher looked at the existing records of patients who had undergone gallbladder surgery and their in hospital recovery records between 1972-1981.  Some patients either had an unobstructed view of small stand of trees or a brown brick wall when lying in bed. Other than window views, the rooms were nearly identical in size, arrangement of beds, furniture and other major physical characteristics. 

  What he found was that patients with a view of trees were hospitalized almost a day shorter than patients who had a view of the brick wall. Brick wall-view patients had more negative nurses notes such as “upset and crying” or “needs much encouragement” than tree-view patients.  Also, patients with nature window views received fewer analgesic doses 2-5 days after surgery. The tree-view patients more frequently received weaker pain medications like aspirin or acetaminophen while brick wall-view patients who needed stronger pain medications such as narcotics.

• “Patients’ Self-Reported Recovery After an Environmental Intervention Aimed to Support Patients’ Circadian Rhythm in Intensive Care” (2021) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/19375867211001541 

  Engwall et al. (2021) evaluated the self-reports of ICU patients’ recovery when moved to an ICU room with more natural lighting and a “cycled” lighting system compared to self-reports of patients in a typical ICU room. Self-reports occurred 6 months and 12 months after each patients’ discharge date. Results from the self-reported recovery of both rooms were only significant after 12 months, indicating that those in the room with greater natural lighting experienced better recovery than those in the ordinary room.

Sources:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/03/how-nature-resets-our-minds-and-bodies/274455/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nature-that-nurtures/
https://www.healthdesign.org/chd/knowledge-repository/view-through-window-may-influence-recovery-surgery
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/03/how-nature-resets-our-minds-and-bodies/274455/