Benefits of Nature

You know how it can feel so refreshing when you spend time outside? There’s actually science behind that. In Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness, Dr. Qing Li discusses the Japanese practice of forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku, and all the benefits that forest bathing offers. Forest bathing is the act of opening all of your senses to the forest. Dr. Qing Li offers that the optimum time spent forest bathing is walking 5km (~3.11 miles) over the course of 4 hours in the forest, but that can also be reduced to fit your needs/capacity. It doesn’t need to be a strenuous hike, you can gain the benefits of forest bathing, just by being in nature.

So much of our time is spent indoors, disconnected from the nature that humans evolved to be connected to. Dr. Qing Li found that the benefits of forest bathing include reduced stress, improved sleep, and many other health benefits, in a way that exercise alone does not offer. Each of the senses benefit from time in the forest.

If you can’t fit going to a forest into your schedule, you can still benefit from urban places of nature, looking at nature through your window or an image, or even just listening to the sounds of nature. I encourage you to find a time in the next week to visit some nature, whether the wilderness, or your local park, and reap the benefits.

As always, take what's helpful and leave the rest. I hope you have the week you need.