Your Brain on Nature: Forest Bathing and Reduced Stress

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“Your Brain on Nature” examines the fascinating effects that exposure to nature can have on the brain. Scientific studies have shown that natural environments can have remarkable benefits for human health. Natural environments are more likely to promote positive emotions; walking in nature has been associated with heightened physical and mental energy. 
“Your Brain on Nature” examines the fascinating effects that exposure to nature can have on the brain. Scientific studies have shown that natural environments can have remarkable benefits for human health. Natural environments are more likely to promote positive emotions; walking in nature has been associated with heightened physical and mental energy. 
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It's no surprise that fresh air is good for your health, but that doesn't always make it easier to find a balance in today's life.
It's no surprise that fresh air is good for your health, but that doesn't always make it easier to find a balance in today's life. "Your Brain on Nature" makes a case for better, healthier, greener thinking and improved mental health through exposure to greenspace.

It’s no surprise that fresh air is good for your health, but that doesn’t always make it easier to get a balance of healthy immersion in nature. Your Brain on Nature (Wiley, 2012) makes a case for better, healthier, greener thinking and improved mental health through exposure to greenspaces and provides tips for how to apply the science of optimial brain health to everyday life. In this excerpt, authors Eva Selhub and Alan Logan discuss research linking shinrin-yoku (Japanese “forest bathing” or “forest therapy”) to increased cerebral blood flow, immune defense and improved mental health.

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Shinrin-Yoku–Forest Bathing

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air, that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.–Robert Louis Stevenson

Among the many reasons to preserve what is left of our ancient forests, the mental aspects stand tall. The notion that forests have a special place in the realm of public health, including an ability to refresh the weary, is not a new one. Medical doctors, including Franklin B. Hough, reported in early U.S. medical journals that forests have a “cheerful and tranquilizing influence which they exert upon the mind, more especially when worn down by mental labor.” Individuals report that forests are the perfect landscape to cultivate what are called transcendent experiences–these are unforgettable moments of extreme happiness, of attunement to that outside the self, and moments that are ultimately perceived as very important to the individual.

  • Published on Jan 7, 2013
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