The Benefits of Forest Bathing
I absolutely love forest bathing, or Shinrin-yoku as it is called in Japan. I love it partly for its silly name, but mostly because it’s really good for us. Studies have been conducted for decades to investigate the effect of forest environments on human health. The conclusions of a 2022 study done in Japan are truly extraordinary:
1. Forest bathing increases human natural killer (NK) activity, the number of NK cells, and the intracellular levels of anti-cancer proteins, suggesting a preventive effect on cancers.
2. Forest bathing reduces blood pressure and heart rate showing a preventative effect on hypertension and heart diseases.
3. Forest bathing reduces stress hormones, such as urinary adrenaline and noradrenaline and salivary/serum cortisol contributing to stress management.
4. Forest bathing increases the activity of parasympathetic nerves and reduces the activity of sympathetic nerves, thereby stabilizing the balance of the autonomic nervous system.
5. Forest bathing improves sleep.
6. Forest bathing increases the levels of serum adiponectin and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate.
7. In the Profile of Mood States (POMS) test, forest bathing reduces the scores for anxiety, depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion, and increases the score for vigor, showing preventative effects on depression.
8. Forest bathing may apply to rehabilitation medicine.
9. Forest bathing increases the activity city parks also has positive benefits on human health.
10. Forest bathing may have a preventative effect on COVID by boosting immune function and by reducing mental stress.
It’s clear forest environments, and even city parks are incredibly good for our health. Living on Aquidneck Island, we have numerous public paths and parks available to us. I suggest all my patients spend time in nature, and I do so myself as well. I usually walk outside about an hour per day, but it’s believed spending as little as 20 minutes in nature has hugely beneficial effects. It’s important to note that walking or exercising isn’t necessary to reap these rewards, just sitting or lying down is sufficient!
Over the next year, I’m going to cover lots of new ground on my nature walks, and I’ll make sure to post my all my new outdoor adventures on Instagram. Hopefully I’ll show you some places right here in RI that you didn’t know existed and you’ll be inspired to forest bathe too.