Nature Is Nurture

Imagine you and I both have the same surgery on the same day. After your surgery, you luck out and get a room with a wonderful view (blue skies, trees, birds, et cetera). I’m not so lucky, and they stick me in a room without much of a view (the brick wall of the building next door). Other than me being a bit cranky, does it matter?

A group of researchers conducted a scientific study to explore this question. Any guesses about what they found?

I won’t keep you hanging. Compared with subjects who had a view of a wall, subjects with a view of nature:

1. Took less pain medication
2. Had fewer post-surgery complications
3. Had shorter hospital stays (1)

Nature is nurture(ing).

There isn’t a body-heart-mind “connection”; there’s body-heart-mind unity. When you proactively meet your needs, you thrive. And spending time with nature is certainly one of your needs.

Until very recently, we humans lived with nature for the entirety of our 2.5 million years of existence. Cities are only a few thousand years old, and suburbs are only a few hundred years old. As such, being with nature does us a world of good.

A scientific study with results published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health gives us both good and bad news about modern life:

The bad news first:

“The gap between the natural setting, for which our physiological functions are adapted, and the highly urbanized and artificial setting that we inhabit is a contributing cause of the ‘stress state’ in modern people.”

And now the good news:

“In recent years, scientific evidence supporting the physiological effects of relaxation caused by natural stimuli has accumulated.” (2)

Spending time with nature isn’t beneficial in some fluffy, intangible way. Spending time with nature positively impacts measurable physiological processes in your body.

Another scientific study with results published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health demonstrates that spending time with nature lowers people’s heart rates and cortisol levels. Here’s how the researchers summarized their findings:

“Our study revealed that forest therapy elicited a significant (1) decrease in pulse rate, (2) decrease in salivary cortisol levels, (3) increase in ‘comfortable,’ ‘natural,’ and ‘relaxed’ feelings as assessed by the modified SD method, (4) decrease in the POMS negative subscale ‘tension–anxiety,’ and (5) increase in feelings of ‘vigor’ in middle-aged females. In conclusion, walking in a forest according to a standard ‘forest therapy’ program induced physiological and psychological relaxation. These results clarified the physiological effects of the forest therapy program and suggested a possibility of clinical use.” (3)

Lower heart rate, lower cortisol levels, and feeling more relaxed!

All from simply spending time with nature!

Nature is nurture(ing).

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.”
—John Burroughs

“We need the tonic of wildness.”
—Henry David Thoreau

“Nature itself is the best physician.”
—Hippocrates of Kos

(1) View Through a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery. Science, 1984, 10.1126/science.6143402.
(2) Physiological Effects of Nature Therapy: A Review of the Research in Japan. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2016, 10.3390/ijerph13080781.
(3) Physiological and Psychological Effects of a Forest Therapy Program on Middle-Aged Females. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2015, 10.3390/ijerph121214984.

About Jason Gootman
Jason Gootman is a Mayo Clinic Certified Wellness Coach and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach as well as a certified nutritionist and certified exercise physiologist. Jason helps people reverse and prevent type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other ailments with evidence-based approaches to nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, holistic wellness, and, most importantly, lasting behavior improvement and positive habit formation. As part of this work, Jason often helps people lose weight and keep it off, in part by helping them overcome the common challenges of yo-yo dieting and emotional eating. Jason helps people go from knowing what to do and having good intentions to consistently taking great care of themselves in ways that help them add years to their lives and life to their years.