Forest Bathing: The Science of Nature and Health
In 1982, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture coined the term shinrin-yoku, which translates to forest bathing or absorbing the forest atmosphere. The practice involves slowly and mindfully walking through a forest, engaging all your senses. It is not hiking for exercise or botanizing for plant identification. It is simply being present in nature. The Japanese government invested in researching this practice and the results are striking. Time in forest environments consistently lowers cortisol, reduces blood pressure, decreases heart rate, and improves heart rate variability. Natural killer cells, a component of the immune system that targets tumors and virus-infected cells, increase in both number and activity after forest exposure, with effects lasting for days. The immune benefits appear to be partly mediated by phytoncides, antimicrobial volatile organic compounds emitted by trees. Studies in urban environments show that even brief exposure to city parks, tree-lined streets, or views of nature through windows provides measurable stress reduction and cognitive benefits. The mechanism is partly psychological, nature restores directed attention that has been depleted by the constant focus demands of modern life, and partly physiological, our bodies respond to natural environments in ways that our urban ancestors would have taken for granted.
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