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Open book, man runs over it, blueberries roll away

I went into the woods to do nothing – and was thrilled (Part 2)

In my last blog post, I told you how I was fascinated by the concept of forest bathing.

Then I wanted to know what was really behind it: was this just a trend that someone had come up with to make money? After all, there are books about Shinrin-yoku, as forest bathing is called in Japanese, there is a German Academy for Forest Bathing and recently also courses to train instructors – pool attendants for forest bathing, as you might say.

An article that appeared in "ZEIT Wissen" in 2018 helped me further [https://www.zeit.de/zeit- wissen/2018/03/waldbaden-natur-heilung-gesundheit-japan/komplettansicht]: It says that people in Japan and South Korea in particular have long been convinced of the healing power of trees: universities offer medical specialisations in forest medicine, multi-million-dollar research programmes investigate the medical effects of forest bathing, and there are so-called Forest Bath Parks and Natural Recreation Forests.

It is possible that behind these state-subsidised forest walks there is not an exclusively selfless motive, but also the capitalist goal of increasing society’s willingness to perform. But the experience is the same: the forest, and nature in general, is good for us. It has been known since the 1980s that hospital patients require fewer painkillers and recover more quickly if the view from their room window is of a park rather than of a concrete wall.

Evolutionary biologist Edward O. Wilson called this love for all living things "biophilia": we are, he wrote, genetically programmed to love nature. In the above-mentioned “Zeit” article, Qing Li, a professor of environmental immunology in Tokyo, is cited. Together with Japanese and Korean colleagues, he showed why even a short, relaxed walk in the forest can have a positive impact on our health: it increases the number of killer cells (which strengthens the immune system), and blood pressure, cortisol levels and pulse decrease.

Why this is the case is debatable. Is it the fragrances in the forest? Or the sight of all that green? Or is it simply because many of us associate happy childhood memories with the forest?

Apparently, the health effects of forests are now also to be studied in Europe – including the question of whether oak, beech and birch have a different effect than the pine, cedar and larch widespread in Japan. I will follow the results with interest, but for myself I have long been convinced of the power of the forest. It doesn’t matter if it’s psychological or pharmacological.

I’ll tell you what I do when I have to calm down, but I’m not near a forest in my next blog post, the third and final part on the concept of forest bathing.

 

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