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You know you should get away from your desk and up off your couch more often. But it is so easy to stay settled indoors, entertained by games, shows, and movies.
But just like the need to clean your skin cells, your brain benefits from forest bathing on a regular basis. Yes, not only does getting outside help your muscles become stronger and more limber, but your outlook on the world also gets a refresh as well.
As more and more of us move to urban centers and spend our days inside buildings, we instinctively miss the sunlight, scents, and sights of the outdoors. It’s probably a safe bet that you spend more time looking at your smartphone than any outdoor landscape. It’s an easy trap to fall into.
But breaking out of that trap is not only easy, it’s vital for your health.
Compared to other mental health measures, forest bathing is super simple to embrace. You essentially have to show up and slow down. However, there are a few steps that enhance your experience:
You don’t need to venture far into the backwoods to recharge your senses. You just want to seek out a place with a natural setting where you are not bombarded with man-made sounds or other stimuli. It could be a forest or a park near your home. Perhaps you have a fabulous garden that offers a suitable respite. If you need to drive to a spot, perhaps getting out of the house and having time alone in the car to get there can be part of the mental journey. Do what is right for you. Just make sure you will be treated to greenery when you get there.
Simply walk through the forest slowly while breathing deeply and engaging all your senses. Listen for leaves rustling in a breeze; smell the moss and the musky soil; look at the colors of the leaves and flowers; reach out and touch the rough bark of the tree. Feel the earth beneath your feet. Drink in every element around you and feel yourself relax to a deeper level. Allow yourself to experience any emotion that arises from joy, gratitude, to pent-up sadness. Breathe it all out with a few tears if that is what you need right now.
Don’t get hemmed in by going to the same place or a location chosen by someone else. If you want to sit in the sunshine near the floral beds down the street, treat yourself to that outing. If you need a shady respite since that suits your mood, then go for it. Listen to your body. Perhaps today you only need a 20-minute exposure to feel better, yet an hour feels inadequate on other days. Do what you need to do to feel better.
It may be tempting to race up the path and feel a sense of accomplishment, but that is not the point of forest bathing. Wander slowly as you expose yourself to all the gifts this natural setting presents. The longer you stay, the more benefits you receive. You won’t truly relax until you’ve been immersed for 20 minutes. Ideally, spending up to four hours in the woods will unlock the tension you’ve been carrying around. Once you let go, it’s easy to lose track of time.
Walking slowly will offer one type of experience, but as you become more at home, plan to do other activities there as well. Take a blanket and a book. Write in your journal. Pack a lunch and eat each bite mindfully. Bring a plant book and learn about the vegetation you see on your journey. Do some stretches or an entire yoga routine. Mindful activities such as meditation and tai chi are perfectly suited for this slow-going experience as well.
In a world where we are constantly bombarded by pings and whirrs, it can take a while to adapt to a quiet place. We even use music to calm us when we try to disappear into our thoughts. Out in the woods, however, there is mostly blissful silence. You may hear the trickle of a creek or a singing bird, but the sounds are more subtle and less intrusive. Enjoy it. Sit or stand as you close your eyes and just be yourself. You can focus more on other senses by leaning a cheek against the bark of a tree or feeling a breeze cross your face. This will remind you that you are a piece of the universe and put your problems in perspective, making you kinder and more patient.
If you cannot get out in the wild as often as you would like, keep reminders in your home to jog your memory of those peaceful experiences. Bring back a rock or a cedar branch, which will also serve as an invitation to go back to where you found them. Take a photo and use it as the wallpaper on your smartphone or desktop. Buy essential tree oils so their scents can transport you back to the peaceful place you love.
Japanese researchers have focused on this practice since people in that tiny nation live mostly in urban centers and visit the island’s plentiful, dense forests.
“Forest bathing” – known there as shinrin-yoku – started there as part of a national program in 1982. Each year, close to 2.5 million out of its 126 million citizens walk forest trails to ease their stress and improve their health.
In 2004, Dr. Qing Li and his colleagues began the Forest Therapy Study Group to identify exactly why visits to the forest make people feel so much better. They discovered that time in a forest reduces stress, anxiety, depression, and anger. It also improves your cardiovascular and metabolic health, strengthens your immune system, and makes you more resilient. This is not related to the exercise you get but the sensory experience.
It also helps you sleep better, particularly if you take your break later in the day, preferably in the afternoon. While just going for a walk in any setting relieves frustration, anger, depression, and anxiety, exposure to a forest also boosts your energy and makes you less fatigued.
This could be linked to the higher concentration of oxygen in a forest since trees release oxygen when they convert energy from sunlight to make glucose from carbon dioxide and water. Breathing in cleaner air compared to that of a smog-filled city would make a big difference.
Also, phytoncides – natural oils produced to defend plants from bacteria, insects, and fungi – reduce stress, blood pressure, and heart rates. Evergreens, such as pines, cedars, spruce, and cone-bearing trees, produce the highest levels of phytoncides. Therefore, walking in an evergreen forest is even better for your health.
Treat yourself to an outing soon, and you’ll find the pressures of the urban world fall away. This is probably the cheapest therapy available, costing you only precious time by yourself.
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_forest_bathing_is_good_for_your_health
Effects of Short Forest Bathing Program on Autonomic Nervous System Activity and Mood States in Middle-Aged and Elderly Individuals, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5579495/
