Usually when I ask a patient about exposure to nature, they say I live near a wooded area. When I ask further how often they venture into the wooded area, most just pass by. Even with people who have a backyard facing trees, the idea about experiencing nature is to be in it. Usually means at least 10-30 minutes of no technology, little to no mechanical noise and the intention to not react, just be. This last part usually is the deal breaker with people I speak to. In fact, most of my lectures are preceded by a slide showing a doctor's prescription pad where instead of writing a drug, I write orders for 1- nutrition; 2-movement; 3-grounding. I can usually make people feel better with the power of temporary drugs AND a plan for lifestyle change. Both are equally important but in my former life of 15 minute visits (please see The Fatal Fifteen blog), I didn't have time for teaching lifestyle change (or come up with an individualized, intricate plan). I have found if I stick to the 1,2,3 way of formulating a plan, makes it easy for me and my patients. Experiencing (witnessing) nature can easily take care of # 2 and #3. Takes physical movement to get into the forest or wooded area and once you are in, if you let go of technology and are willing to "slow down to the speed of nature", nature's speed will consume you. Example; going to the beach, (even if you are not a beach person), will usually capture you just with the powerful sound of the waves hitting the shoreline. Hypnotic, mesmerizing, relaxing if you stay long enough. There is usually an inherent "need" to check internet, email or text but when you start to realize the web will still be there later, the emails can wait, the texts aren't important information anyway.....then you allow nature to take over. That is when you realize, the breeze is cooling, the shade is refreshing, the surf is inviting. In fact, the surf is continuous, powerful and you don't have to power it on to access joy. Eva Selhub in her book Your Brain in Nature, speaks of Japanese Forest Bathing. Around the late 80's to 90's, there was research started about the effects of nature on city dwellers. For the medical community to make recommendations, doctors have to see studies. (Randomized Control Trials) Good for making drug companies spend on research and development (really just marketing); not good when simple suggestions like diet and exercise that have to be studied and tested before being recommended. Who is going to pay for expensive studies on the Mediterranean Diet being heart protective or a regular walk in nature being a treatment for high blood pressure. Truthfully, since the American public keeps on asking, your tax dollars are being used to pay for fancy double blind studies on diet and exercise. As I mentioned, Japan did precede us by testing whether health is effected by hanging out in the forest. They found that the blood and urine hormones for stress were less in those who spent regular time in the forest. They also found hormones for relaxation were higher in the forest group. Imagine if I wrote a script for high blood pressure that said go to a forest preserve 5 times a week and just sit there for 10-30 minutes 3-5 days a week. (or imagine if medical insurance paid for it!!!!) Well they will never do that, in fact, most medical insurance won't pay for anything preventive: exercise, weight loss, good nutrition, good sleep. What they will pay for is your disease-management after you have been diagnosed with the illness. My suggestion is don't wait for the disease to pop up in one of the annual physicals, start listening to your inner voice, start acting on what you see in the mirror, start taking extra time to sleep or wind down at bedtime. Spend on "Healthy". Even if it costs more in the short run, it will save you so much in copays, sick leave, prescription deductibles (and I am sure you won't miss the side-effects to the one or two pills used to "control" the disease you are labelled with). Eva's book is due out 13th of June 2012-well worth it if you want to make a pre-emptive strike on health and personal healing.
