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Chapter 1: What benefits does forest bathing provide for mental and physical health?
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You're listening to LifeKits. From NPR. Hey, everybody. It's Marielle. Isn't the forest a magical place? Like when you really venture into the woods and you see these century-old trees towering over you, sunlight twinkling through them, and spiders weaving their elaborate webs. The smell of pine needles is in the air. Birds are tweeting.
You hear a mysterious sound that you're not going to pay too much attention to, but you really hope is not a bear. There is a moment of awe that happens when you step into a forest. And I think a lot of us can sense that forest bathing, or taking in the forest through your senses, makes us feel better and calmer.
I was surprised to learn that there are decades of scientific evidence backing that up. A lot of the evidence comes from Japan, where the term forest bathing originated in the 1980s. Over many years, researchers have shown in peer-reviewed studies that time in the forest is a kind of medicine.
Forest bathing helps your immune system by increasing your levels of anti-cancer proteins and immune cells that kill tumors. It's been shown to lower blood pressure and stabilize blood sugar. It can help with depression. It can lower adrenaline and turn down the dial on your body's fight-or-flight response.
What we could see in the data was that as soon as somebody came into proximity of a tree and they were just present and mindful, paying attention and appreciating the tree, that basically their parasympathetic activity, which is the relaxation response in the body, was increased.
I know, all of that from spending time with trees. On this episode of Life Kit, we will talk about how to forest bathe using the research as our guide to what works. And we'll share some exercises to get you started. Feel free to head outside to listen to this one. If, like me, you're wondering why forests are so good for our health, there's an evolutionary hypothesis for this.
Simply put, for much of human history, we lived in nature.
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Chapter 2: What scientific evidence supports the practice of forest bathing?
Make sure it's safe to venture out. Also, remember to stay on the marked trails and check yourself for ticks after, too, if those are a problem in your area. All right, so we're into the woods. Next up, takeaway two, slow down and disconnect. Your forest bathing session is a good time to sit or to walk or to do some gentle yoga or tai chi.
It's not the time to squeeze in your hardcore cardio for the week.
So the next difference between normal activities and forest bathing is that we're going to move very slowly in forest bathing and we want to reduce the heart rate.
Also, Dr. Li says if you tire yourself out physically... Your tiredness will reduce the effect of forbidden.
So when you get to the forest or the park, maybe you walk a little bit and then find a spot that speaks to you. Could be a clearing in the woods, surrounded by a bunch of tall trees, or a spot where a tree has grown into a curved shape that looks suspiciously like a seat. If it feels beautiful and resonant to you, that's what matters. Now, sit down.
And then just be present with the environment and leave the phone alone.
We'll have more Life Kit after the break. All right, you're settled in. Your phone is turned off or at least put away. It's time to engage your senses.
The sight, hear, taste, smell, and touch.
We're going to start with smell and inhalation because Dr. Lee says based on his research, many of the benefits of forest bathing come when we inhale the chemicals that trees release into the air. They're called phytoncides. And when we breathe them in, they, on their own, can do things like reduce our stress hormones and increase our levels of anti-cancer proteins.
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Chapter 3: How can you effectively prepare for a forest bathing experience?
On that note, Lucretia is going to walk us through one more forest meditation. Settle down next to a tree and take some deep belly breaths.
I like for people to imagine your legs being like old tree trunk roots that root you deep in the ground like the tree. So when I take a deep breath, I imagine the energy and love from our ancestors or from Mother Nature coming up those large roots into your legs, into your abdomen, belly expanding. And then as you exhale, sometimes I do a practice of
Shedding the things that no longer serve me, shaking off the day.
And then she exhales and says a prayer of gratitude to Mother Nature. This episode of Life Kit was produced by Claire Marie Schneider. Our digital editor is Malika Garib, and our visuals editor is CJ Riquelon. Megan Cain is our senior supervising editor, and Beth Donovan is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tegel, Margaret Serino, and Sylvie Douglas.
Engineering support comes from Tiffany Vera Castro and Becky Brown. I'm Mariel Cigarra. Thanks for listening.
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