Forest Bathing Before it was Fashionable

I didn’t know why I would do it. All I knew was I needed it and it helped me survive.

Survival might be strong, but I felt like I was falling apart. So, when the school day would end, my “surviving time” would begin immediately. OK, after I ran through the house, kicked off shoes, changed clothes, grabbed a snack, if there was one, and headed to the woods beyond our backyard to sit, climb, look, and refuel.

Think back to your adolescent self. Can you relate? Maybe this is you at the present time. Do you have an escape place in nature that brings you peace and tranquility?

Recently, a book recommendation from a colleague called the Nature Fix, made my memory of yesteryears come flying back. Back to a time when I was desperately trying not to fall apart. I couldn’t control the world around me, but I counted myself lucky to have an escape place. I just didn’t appreciate how serendipitous and necessary the daily fix I needed was until Florence Williams’ book came into my life.

I find it fascinating how things circle back and can make sense of all that happened before.

I hope you have experienced this sensation. Take a second to think, have you?

Even now, so many years later, if I can make it home before the sun sets, I still enjoy sitting outside staring up at the trees. I don’t climb them, and apartment buildings have replaced the woods, but I still need my fix.

I think about others. This makes me wonder how my students feel about nature as a need in their lives. Do they go home and try to roam? Is there a place for them to get out and go into the fresh air and just be?

As a teacher, yes, I went back to the classroom. I love the challenge. The added stresses I see on young people make me think they really need some downtime, but then telling new teenagers what might be good for them rarely works out. Like I said, I love a challenge, though.

Some current thoughts: what if, as adults, we modeled the outdoor mindset even in a City Park as a place of refuge from the everyday stresses and notifications of our devices? Just a little time can really help adjust an attitude. Perhaps we might slow the pace of paving paradise and get out and see, hear, and smell.

What is forest bathing?

Forest bathing is what I was doing back in my early days, by immersing myself in the woods to sit and look at the largest to the smallest of parts, listen to the wind, birds, and other animals I would not only hear, but also get to spy on from up in my quiet perch. There is no goal to bathing in the forest other than to use your senses and tune into nature.

What is the required/recommended nature fix pyramid?

What happens to our body when we bathe in the forest and how does forest bathing affect anxiety and depression and other ailments?

Some answers gleaned from the research are:

Forest bathing can reduce stress hormones, which is very handy with all the extra stresses folks are under these days!

It can increase creativity, can lower heart rate, and blood pressure, can boost immune system, can help you recover quicker from an injury.

How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.

“I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all trouble in all troubles”

~Anne Frank

Other countries have given this idea some serious thought. Finland has an official health recommendation of five hours of nature per month.

World Health Organization’s definition of health is a bit of off from most of ours. Their definition is a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. I think most around me, including myself, think if only we don’t have a disease, we are healthy.

The combination of physical, mental, and social well-being is a trifecta. I, for one, can see how mental and social well-being can contribute to a declining state of physical well-being and, before long, could lead to could lead to disease or infirmity.

I had thought about and was writing about this idea soon after reading this book and then time gets in the way. Things change and are not always for the better. Anyway, I was trying to finish this up and move on to another article and can’t help but see I really need to heed the advice in this book. Now I see it as more important than previously, and I think it took me this kind of time because I needed to see how important nature really is in mucky times. I knew this in my head, but my actions were speaking louder.

I am presently struggling with the concept because of some changes at work. These changes are messing with my mind and sure I want to go outside and do some yard work, which I do when I can get up early enough or stay out late enough to avoid the heat and too much sun. However, sitting and watching the sunset with a drink in hand is much more appealing and higher in calories, hence the downward spiral may have begun. I will need to rein myself back in if I’m going to continue to fit in my clothes.

I’m going to pull some important points together and connect them to my stress. Maybe you can relate.

A scary Japanese term karoshi means death from overwork. I have no intention of doing this, but I can see how people in high pressure careers can get it to that point. Teaching is stressful for sure, and there is a collective sigh of relief when the bell rings in the afternoon. Only to start the cycle all over again the next day, pining away for a weekend. Other careers also must feel this pressure and weekends are great, but wishing away time is a weird concept. After all, we only get so much time on this planet, so we probably should make the most of those days. The cortisol levels in this body are higher than last week and according to a study from society university, a leisure walk in the forest can lower cortisol levels by 12%. I need to find the closest forest and walk for days. We all know this will not happen. Life goes on and I can’t just drop everything. It’s humid and hot right now in Florida. (I started writing this back in October — the stress is real and it has taken me this long to edit this article. I said try; I am learning, and it is presently 45 degrees and we Floridians can’t handle it.)

For now, though, I’m going to follow some of the advice given, so I don’t end up a victim of karoshi. I’ll list a few here:

* Take the walks in the forest. Well, I’m staying around my neighborhood. It has lots of trees and then branch out to our local parks.

*For brain breaks, I can listen to some bird noises and while watching nature scenes, hopefully this can avoid the spike in cortisol. Just not the screechy birds that make you think they are after you.

*Using an oil diffuser with the Cypress oil to get the immune boost and the simulation or the similar effect to walking in the woods each morning.

These minor changes don’t seem overwhelming, they seem doable and even if I get the placebo effect; I think that’s beneficial, and my midsection will thank me.

Do any of these appeal to you?

Which ones?

Any others you could share to help us get our nature fix?