H E A LT H
ASK THE DR. What’s a good cure for the everyday blues? The answers can be found in nature. BY DR. FRANK LIPMAN
Not that long ago, mankind lived and worked mostly outdoors. Fast-forward a few generations, and now most of our time is spent almost exclusively indoors. By day, we’re sealed into windowless office cubes and by night, we’re holed up at home in a darkened room watching Netflix. We’re literally walled off from the natural world, not to mention other people. In fact, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that adults spend an average of just 5 percent of their day outside—so is it any wonder why you may often feel blah, uninspired or mildly depressed? My advice: Go wild—and by that I mean reconnect with the natural world and disconnect from the couch and the screen. Whether you’re conscious of it or not, you are craving doses of the outdoors, so indulge as often as you can. When you do, your body will benefit in ways no pill or potion can touch. Here’s where to start, and why you should:
If you want to boost immunity in an easy, relaxing way, hang out in green spaces, daily if possible and definitely every week. Doing so is as vitally important as eating your greens. Spending time in verdant surroundings—for example, by a lake, in a forest or meadow or on a hiking trail—gives you back something of the original human condition: a calm body with an optimized immune system and a brain that is restfully aware of, and alert to, the surroundings but unencumbered by constant, swirling thoughts. Nature helps you achieve this state by gently waking and stimulating all the senses. Nature also provides the welcome effect of rejuvenating the parts of you that get dulled and squelched by life’s daily demands. On a purely physical level, the benefits may be even more profound—in fact, one leading researcher in the field of nature therapy believes that the aromatic chemicals released by pine trees are responsible for turning on the powerful anticancer “killer cells” of your immune system. One more excellent reason to get out there. 40
anita-austvika
TIME IN NATURE SUPPORTS IMMUNITY.
