How Nature Heals You

[Peace and Love]

http://www.alternet.org/environment/studies-show-amazing-ways-nature-boon-your-health

https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/enhance-your-wellbeing/environment/nature-and-us/how-does-nature-impact-our-wellbeing
 

Nature heals

Being in nature, or even viewing scenes of nature, reduces anger, fear, and stress and increases pleasant feelings. Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical wellbeing, reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones. It may even reduce mortality, according to scientists such as public health researchers Stamatakis and Mitchell.

Research done in hospitals, offices, and schools has found that even a simple plant in a room can have a significant impact on stress and anxiety.

 

Nature soothes

In addition, nature helps us cope with pain. Because we are genetically programmed to find trees, plants, water, and other nature elements engrossing, we are absorbed by nature scenes and distracted from our pain and discomfort.

This is nicely demonstrated in a now classic study of patients who underwent gallbladder surgery; half had a view of trees and half had a view of a wall. According to the physician who conducted the study, Robert Ulrich, the patients with the view of trees tolerated pain better, appeared to nurses to have fewer negative effects, and spent less time in a hospital. More recent studies have shown similar results with scenes from nature and plants in hospital rooms. 
 

Too much time in front of screens is deadly

“Nature deprivation,” a lack of time in the natural world, largely due to hours spent in front of TV or computer screens, has been associated, unsurprisingly, with depression. More unexpected are studies by Weinstein and others that associate screen time with loss of empathy and lack of altruism. 

And the risks are even higher than depression and isolation. In a 2011 study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, time in front of a screen was associated with a higher risk of death, and that was independent of physical activity!  


http://www.spring.org.uk/2014/07/10-remarkable-ways-nature-can-heal-your-mind.php

 50% more creative

Going into nature for an extended period can have remarkable effects on creativity.

A recent study had participants take a four- or six-day trip into the wilderness.

Their study showed that…

“…four days of immersion in nature, and the corresponding disconnection from multimedia and technology, increases performance on a creativity, problem-solving task by a full 50 percent,” (Atchley et al., 2012)

Why does it work? The psychologists explained:

“Our modern society is filled with sudden events (sirens, horns, ringing phones, alarms, television, etc.) that hijack attention.

By contrast, natural environments are associated with gentle, soft fascination, allowing the executive attentional system to replenish.” (Atchley et al., 2012)
 

Reduce acute stress

The Japanese are big fans of walking in the forest to promote their mental health.

The practice is called shinrin-yoku, which literally means ‘forest bathing’.

One study conducted by Japanese researchers has found that the practice is particularly useful for those suffering acute stress (Morita et al., 2006).

Their study of 498 people found that shinrin-yoku reduced hostility and depression as well as increasing people’s liveliness compared to comparable control groups
 

Ease dementia symptoms

Gardens in care homes may have therapeutic benefits for those suffering from dementia, according to a review of 17 separate studies (Whear et al., 2014).

Researchers at the University of Exeter Medical School found that gardens reduced patients’ agitation, encouraged activity and promoted relaxation.

The study’s lead author, Rebecca Whear, said:

“There is an increasing interest in improving dementia symptoms without the use of drugs.

We think that gardens could be benefiting dementia sufferers by providing them with sensory stimulation and an environment that triggers memories.

They not only present an opportunity to relax in a calming setting, but also to remember skills and habits that have brought enjoyment in the past.”
 

Improve memory

Short-term memory can be improved 20% by walking in nature, or even just by looking at an image of a natural scene.

Marc G. Berman and colleagues at the University of Michigan wanted to test the effect of natural scenery on cognitive function (Berman, Jonides & Kaplan, 2008).

In the first of two studies participants were given a 35 minute task involving repeating loads of random numbers back to the experimenter, but in reverse order.

After this they were sent out for a walk – one group around an arboretum and the other down a busy city street – both while being tracked with GPS devices.

They each repeated the memory test when they got back.

The results showed that people’s performance on the test improved by almost 20% after wandering amongst the trees. By comparison those subjected to a busy street did not improve.

[Evilwave Heddy]

I remember trying to convince one of my friends that walking helps you study and remember more.  So I'd walk and study (remember phrases, definitions) in preparation for tests as for some reason I could remember more.  I remember learning French while walking and being able to recall phrases and words with ease compared to sitting at home.  Now that I've seen this, I guess it might have something to do with nature (as there is a forest behind my house I'd walk through and I live out in the country).  I should have got my friend to try it really as he lived in town. He was never into studying to start with so it wouldn't have made a difference anyway. But hey, interesting topic.

[Loreena]

Walking during early morning hours and getting a good dose of sunshine is necessary for production of Vitamin D. Plus nature comes for free yet we take it so much for granted. Nature is like a mother, always caring and nourishing.

This is such a beautiful post. Thanks for sharing. Reminds us of the importance of mother nature in healing.

                       

Edited February 25, 2017 by Loreena

[Shin]

Nature is better than sex, I love trunks.

 

Edited February 25, 2017 by Shin

[Life Coach]

I agree. From personal experience I can tell you that nature has a big healing effect (well at least on me), this is why you find me taking a long walk in nature at least once a week. Also you get more creative, that's true. I get my best ideas when I am taking a walk in nature. It's wonderful being in nature, and I love it. Nature is absolutely magnificent, it is a healing temple. I can literally feel the high vibrations in nature, it's like life itself. You won't find this miracle in town or like in a empty, cut down field.

[Colin]

@Peace and Love awesome thread, I walk outside in nature almost everyday.

[Colin]

hey @Peace and Love are you going to play breath of the wild?

[Shin]

Spring, plz cum fast

[Peace and Love]

Now knowing all this stuff about how forests heal you....I wonder what the benefits would be if you were meditating in nature?  Would it be easier to meditate?  Would we get better results when it comes to shifts in consciousness and enlightenment experiences????

[Colin]

1 hour ago, Peace and Love said:

Now knowing all this stuff about how forests heal you....I wonder what the benefits would be if you were meditating in nature?  Would it be easier to meditate?  Would we get better results when it comes to shifts in consciousness and enlightenment experiences????

@Peace and Love I've just started the practice of doing a walking meditation outdoors, while using earplugs to block out all sounds, and I must say it is very very beautiful. I used to listen to music always, but sound reducing ear plugs gives this very nice silence effect.

[Peace and Love]

@Colin

1 hour ago, Colin said:

@Peace and Love I've just started the practice of doing a walking meditation outdoors, while using earplugs to block out all sounds, and I must say it is very very beautiful. I used to listen to music always, but sound reducing ear plugs gives this very nice silence effect.

I've done walking meditations too!  However the sound of the trees rushing and hearing the birds chirping is heaven to my ears for me!!

[Colin]

@Peace and Love

Just now, Peace and Love said:

 

I've done walking meditations too!  However the sound of the trees rushing and hearing the birds chirping is heaven to my ears for me!!

Yeah I have cars and stuff around me, and for my brain or whatever the difference between having ear plus and no earplugs is the difference between feeling uncomfortable and feeling at peace. It is an interesting thing I have been noticing about myself lately.

[Shin]

6 hours ago, Peace and Love said:

Now knowing all this stuff about how forests heal you....I wonder what the benefits would be if you were meditating in nature?  Would it be easier to meditate?  Would we get better results when it comes to shifts in consciousness and enlightenment experiences????

That's what I want to find out too.

If I can already calm the mind to the point where I don't even think (for like 95% of the time) just by walking for 1 hour, and see and feel reality different because of it, I wonder how far you could go by meditating hours and hours in a forest.

Yersterday, after 45 minutes of walking, I really REALLY feel like some trees was alive, it was so sharp and beautiful that I had to stop walking for a while.

There was also two horses, and when I looked at them, it felt like I was watching myself (sort of, don't remember exactly, but it was a feeling close to that).

Now everything is reality, but as a newbie, it is way much easier to see this kind of stuff in nature, then on animals/people, and finally on "inert" man-made objects.

 

[pluto]

Beautiful post, When it rains and thunderstorms the frequencies of the sounds emit healing vibrations.

Ever notice why we feel so calm and just want to sleep when it rains and or storms ?

Its a natural calling for healing.

 

Same thing when we are very sick or drunk or feel like we are going to lose consciousness, we always end up on the ground because its a natural calling to be grounded to our mother and heal our in balances. Everytime you feel anything non-harmonious walk barefoot in nature or just lay down on the ground and you will notice how you feel better compared to anywhere else.

Nature is not a place to visit, Nature is home. I bet you cant walk through a virgin forest and be angry at the same time

Edited March 1, 2017 by pluto