Biophilia

Communauté Européenne, Lorenzo Mattotti, born 1954

“I love Nature partly because she is not man, but a retreat from him. None of his institutions control or pervade her. There a different kind of right prevails. In her midst I can be glad with an entire gladness. if this world were all man, I could not stretch myself, I should lose all hope. He is constraint, she is freedom to me. He makes me wish for another world. She makes me content with this." — Henry David Thoreau’s journals

The benefits of nature are well recorded throughout history, if not through recent scientific studies and evaluations, then most notably and largely by journalistic and literary entries. The power of a walk, sitting in the park, or merely feeling the morning sun upon your face are all instances of simple and rich joy that we are all familiar with. However, in our increasingly digital world, with record highs of people working from home on their computer, the subtle powers of nature often slip our mind. We find ourselves rotting in bed, four hours gone by in the blink of an eye, feeling groggy and drained, forgetting that the best respite to our zombie-like mental fog resides not on some other more colorful and promising screen or app, but right outside our doors.

A recent study published in the journal Nature, used a self-report method of study on over 19,000 participants to reach the conclusion that those who spent 120 minutes or more outside per week were significantly more likely to report feelings of good health and high well-being, compared to those with no contact with nature in the past week. It did not matter whether this time was all at once or spread out over the week. Meaning that if you’re worried that you’re not getting outside every single day, that it ultimately does not matter, as long as you spend more time outside on days you do go out.

As someone who personally feels like a restless wind-up toy if I don’t get to go for at least a 15 minute walk every day, I confidently agree with the results that the study found. But it also left me wondering what exactly was taking place in my brain and body that led to these feelings of “good health” and “high well-being” that the survey participants noted.

Two psychological theories are often brought up when discussing the mental effects of nature - the Attention Restoration Theory (ART) and the Stress Recovery Theory (SRT). ART suggests that nature is beneficial to us because it restores our depleted and exhausted cognitive processes, performed by the prefrontal cortex, back to baseline levels. In essence, taking our scatterbrain from a knotted yarn ball that trips over its knots back to a nicely rolled ball that allows us to proceed without (too many) mistakes. It is thought that this is achieved by activation of the Default Mode Network - a system of connected brain areas that are active when we are not directly focusing our attention on something, like when we are daydreaming. It is these moments of undirected attention, often times called boredom, that our mind actually allows creativity to be cultivated.

“I think boredom is the beginning of every authentic act. ( ... ) Boredom opens up the space, for new engagements. Without boredom, no creativity. If you are not bored, you just stupidly enjoy the situation in which you are”. — Slavoj Zizek

SRT posits that our everyday lives, often lived in urban environments, put our body through mental and physiological stress and can be relieved of this stress by nature. Nature essentially lowers the defense mechanisms that are put up by the daily stressors we experience, allowing us to feel more calm and experience positive emotions. This theory allows us to finally scientifically label a belief that has been long held, as demonstrated by old Victorian traditions of sending people to the seaside and country for fresh air and pleasant scenery.

“…amused with a variety of scenery; and take freely of exercise in the open air, such as riding, walking, gardening, farming, &c. He should peruse interesting books, and converse with cheerful friends; and above all, be located amid pleasant scenery, where he can enjoy a water prospect, a country air, and country diet.” - 1861 book Beach’s Family Physician, Dr. Wooster Beach

Other studies have demonstrated that taking a walk in nature has ameliorating effects on activity in the amygdala, the small double almond-shaped centers of the brain that process fear and social stress. Compared to individuals who took a walk in an urban environment, those who took a walk in a natural environment displayed decreased activity in their amygdalas during a stress task than their urban walking counterparts, whose activity remained constant. The study showed a causal link between an hour walk in nature and decreased levels of stress, demonstrating the immediate benefits of our natural world.

“When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness. I would almost say that they save me, and daily.” - Mary Oliver

I didn’t set out to write this as a plea to those reading it to go outside, that particular persuasion needs to come from within oneself. Though the words of Mary Oliver may be beautiful, they aren’t what will physically propel you to your feet and out the door. Rather, I hope that when you do find yourself outside, you allow your mind to wander. To soak up the shades of green around you, to notice the oddly cinnamon scent that a tree gives off, to feel the breeze rustle your baby hairs. I think I often want life to be beautiful so badly when I forget that it already is.

References

1. Neuroscience News. “We Know Contact with Nature Makes You Feel Better. Can Virtual Contact Do the Same?” Neuroscience News, 19 June 2019, https://neurosciencenews.com/nature-virtual-contact-14276/.

2. Sudimac, S., Sale, V. and Kühn, S. (2022) "How nature nurtures: Amygdala activity decreases as the result of a one-hour walk in nature", Molecular Psychiatry. doi: 10.1038/s41380-022-01720-6. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01720-6

3. Suttie, Jill. “How Nature Can Make You Kinder, Happier, and More Creative.” Greater Good, 2 Mar. 2016, https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_nature_makes_you_kinder_happier_more_creative.

4. White, M.P., Alcock, I., Grellier, J. et al. Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing. Sci Rep 9, 7730 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44097-3

5. White, M. P., Alcock, I., Wheeler, B. W., & Depledge, M. H. (2013). Would You Be Happier Living in a Greener Urban Area? A Fixed-Effects Analysis of Panel Data. Psychological Science, 24(6), 920–928. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612464659