There is something very therapeutic about walking through a quiet forest during the day. In fact, there’s a whole medical practice that boasts about the positive mental and physical benefits of spending time in nature.
Dr. Qing Li has been called the world’s foremost expert on “forest bathing” – or “shinrin-yoku” in Japanese – and he firmly believes that people in modern societies are suffering from “nature deficit disorder.”
The average American is already estimated to spend 93% of their time indoors – and as a result of this earthly deprivation, people experience an increased risk of mental and physical ailments.
Forest bathing, says Li, is the cure.
“Researchers in Japan have tried to find preventive effects against lifestyle-related diseases from this proposed concept called ‘forest bathing,’” Li told Good News Network. “Forest bathing/shinrin-yoku means bathing in the forest atmosphere, or taking in the forest through our senses.
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“This is not exercise, or hiking, or jogging. It is simply being in nature, connecting with it through our sense of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. It’s like a bridge,” he added. “By opening our senses, it bridges the gap between us and the natural world.”
Li, who is a doctor at Tokyo’s Nippon Medical School and a visiting fellow at the Stanford University School of Medicine, has found dozens of health-related benefits from forest bathing.
For starters, Li’s studies have shown that spending time in nature can increase the body’s production of immune cells and cancer-fighting proteins. Forest bathing has also been shown to decrease stress hormones, which comes with reduced symptoms of anger, depression, anxiety, and fatigue, as well as a reduced risk of hypertension.
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Additionally, forest bathing has been…
