Forest bathing is the best way to improve your mood.
Not really a surprise, but how about a feeling of improved calm and contentment with a little stress reduction thrown in if you head down to the woods today? Humans have an innate desire to commune with nature; consider Covid lockdowns and the dramatic increase in park (or neighbourhood garden centre) visitors as examples. Green spaces are crucial for our health. Shinrin-yoku, which technically means “forest bath” but actually refers to the act of bathing our senses, rather than our bodies, in the atmosphere of the forest, is the name given to this act of nature immersion in Japan.
Forest bathing, which originated in Japan and has been actively practised there since the 1980s after being recommended by the government for overworked Japanese workers, is now being hailed as one of many therapies that can improve our ill mental health. Finding ways to combat this is essential because research indicates that incidences of depression and anxiety have increased since the start of Covid-19.
Our health and welfare are greatly impacted by time spent in nature. According to recent research from the University of Glasgow, early deaths among people under the age of 65 decreased by 7% when the amount of green space in a community increased by 10%. According to the research, our health is better the more time we spend in nature and the great outdoors, whether it be a forest, a beach, or farmland.
Forest bathing is considered to be quite effective for lowering stress, lifting depression, and lowering blood pressure, in addition to lowering blood sugar levels, increasing our immune system, and helping to increase energy and cardiovascular health. Simply put, it is really good for our health.
