Top 7 medical benefits of nature therapy

Nature Therapy is a practice that incorporates a Range of Activities and Exercises in an outdoor environment. Anthropologically, nature therapy isn’t some new-age healing practice but has existed since years in a lot of cultures and tribes. Shinrin – yoku is a term that translates to “Forest Bathing or Forest Therapy”. Originated in Japan in the early 1980s, it is considered as a form of Nature Therapy!

Studies revealed that Nature Therapy has a positive effect on both physical and mental health. It involves spending time in nature, among trees to reap the Healthy Benefits. Nature Therapy is a research-based analysis supporting the healing of individuals through the immersion in forests. It has become a progressively growing activity in recent years. It is an increasingly well-indicated health habit that has accumulated a lot of popular and scientific interest in the last few years.

We all are well aware of the fact that forests are an amazing resource to us as they provide us with everything that we need for our survival. They produce oxygen, purify the toxic air, cleanse the water, stop flooding rivers and erosion in mountains and hills and they even provide us with Food, Clothing, Shelter, a lot of daily use products like Books, Furniture, Tools and more.

In addition to this… here are,

Top 7 Benefits Of Nature Therapy

• A JOG IN THE FOREST

  A jog through a forest can reduce the risk of hardships from Mental Health Problems and is twice as good for you as working out in the gym, according to a survey. The study also showed that the positive effect on people’s mental health was 50 per cent more with nature therapy than they might expect from going to the gym.

• HELPS DEAL WITH DEPRESSION AND ANGER

  Researchers found that a few minutes’ walk in the park or a run through the woodland can have an effective result on people suffering from depression and anxiety.

• LOWERS BLOOD PRESSURE

  Consistent exposure to the Forest Environment can lower blood pressure, reduce anger, anxiety and nourish your immunity system.

• ALL YOUR 5 SENSES ARE ACTIVE

  Just by simply being amidst nature, connect with it through your 5 senses. Smell the flowers and the soil around you, taste the pure fresh air, look at the changing colors of the trees and the falling leaves, hear the birds chirping and feel the breeze kissing your cheeks. When you’ve opened up your senses, you slowly begin to connect with the natural world.

• HELPS YOU SLEEP BETTER

  Even a small amount of nature therapy will help you loosen up. It will bring you to the present and helps you to de-stress and relax! A small experiment proves the above statement. Two participants took two-hour walk each in the morning and in the after afternoon in different forests. They walked for around 2 – 2.5 kms in two hours — almost the same distance they would walk every day. We measured their sleep activity with a sleep polygraph and an accelerometer. It is a device that you wear on your wrist, which examines the number of physical movements you make — before, during and after the trip. Body movements fewer than forty in a minute shows that the person is sleeping.
  Before the nature-therapy walk, the two people had an average sleep time of 6 hours 40 minutes. On the night of the nature therapy walk, this rose to 7 hours 50 minutes. And on the night after the walk, it was 6 hours 40 mins. In other words, there was a significance change in the sleeping time on the day of nature therapy. This proves that you sleep better when you spend time in a forest, even if it is for two hours and even when you don’t increase the amount of physical activity.

• INCREASE IN ANTICANCER PROTEIN COUNT DUE TO “NATURE THERAPY”

  The concentration of a person’s main anticancer protein count before and after a 2-day “Nature therapy” session. The study indicates that “Nature therapy“produces an increase in three kinds of main anticancer proteins, Granulising, Perforin and Granzyme. This indicates that an increase in anti cancer protein brought on by “Nature Therapy” and resistance to cancer increases.

• CHANGE OF BLOOD PRESSURE AND PULSE RATE IN THE FOREST AND URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

  When in a stressful situation, the blood pressure and pulse rate increases. Through” Nature therapy”, it indicates that the blood pressure and pulse rate decease when taken from forest environments compared to the vitals taken from participants in urban environment.