When it comes to doing oneself good, don't we say "take a breath of fresh air", "go green", "air our heads or our minds"? We still speak of "secret gardens" and aspire to "recharge our batteries" or even "rediscover our roots". Our everyday language reflects our need for nature. Above all, it expresses the intimate link between our physical and mental health and the environment.
Science did not wait until the modern era to demonstrate the link between our well-being and regular visits to natural areas. As early as the end of the 19th century, doctors were already prescribing seaside holidays for patients suffering from neurasthenia, asthma or tuberculosis; the sea air was said to have numerous therapeutic virtues. The benefits of the forest on the body are also well known, particularly among the Japanese, who began studying them in the 1980s and recommend "shinrin-yoku" (forest baths) as a reaction to the violence of the world (particularly the workplace).
It's now accepted that living in the city increases the risk of developing psychiatric illnesses, mood disorders and anxiety. Stress is the great troublemaker, raising our blood pressure, speeding up our heart rate and disproportionately affecting inflammation; over time, it disrupts the secretion of cortisol, a hormone designed to balance our immune defenses, leading to a whole series of disturbances.
Nature helps us regain our balance, and this can be explained scientifically, through the (chemical) effects it produces on our senses:
The multi-sensory experience of nature is not just pleasant: it can also be highly beneficial, as it helps activate our parasympathetic nervous system, whose soothing effect on the body combats stress. Some researchers even speak of "vitamin G" for "green", and it's not uncommon to present nature and its products as "cures" for our ailments.
Nature can help us get through a depressive episode, chase away rumination, even find inspiration and even solutions to our problems, all the more so when it's associated with action and movement; walking is therefore highly valued, and all the more so if it's done alone and in silence ("in mindfulness", as in meditation centers).
This is hardly surprising, since nature is actually within us, in the complex microbiota that populate our bodies. To be cut off from it is to be cut off from a part of ourselves.
That's why it's essential to change our relationship with nature, to see it not just as a source of food or a place for leisure, but as an extension of ourselves that deserves to be protected, and to which we need to connect regularly in order to stay healthy.
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