Trees are good for the climate, and a walk in the woods is good for your health. It will impact your daily life and health. You will be able to perform better at work and stay more focused on fruit shop slots.
The forest is good for you. If you go for a walk there, you will quickly feel its healing effect: the fresh air, the peace and quiet, and essential fragrances calm your body and mind. After just 15 minutes of walking in the forest, your pulse rate will drop and the release of stress hormones will be inhibited. You can effortlessly leave everyday life behind and breathe deeply.
The forest air is cleaner and healthier than almost anywhere else. Fine dust pollution is a whopping 90 percent lower than in the city. In addition, trees emit valuable substances called terpenes. They serve as a mutual warning against leaf-eating insects and have a positive effect on your health. Fir-like trees also produce terpenes, so any type of forest is beneficial.
The importance of terpenes was studied by a team of researchers led by Qing Li from the Nippon Medical School in Tokyo on twelve people. Six spent the night in a room without knowing that terpenes had been introduced there. The other half slept in a room without the introduction of terpenes. Blood tests documented that inhaled terpenes enter the brain via the bloodstream. There, they appear to influence the production of messenger substances that can lower blood sugar levels, blood pressure and stress hormone levels.
The power of colors and textures when walking in the forest
HOW THE COLORS IMPACT YOU
It is not only the chemical composition of the air that makes us healthy. The visual appearance also plays a role: the mere sight of a forest lowers stress hormone levels by an average of 13.4 percent. Even looking at a virtual forest causes the body to release happiness hormones, even if the effect is not as strong as a real walk in the woods. This fits in with observations made by Swedish physicians around Roger Ulrich. Their patients needed fewer painkillers after operations if a tree grew outside the window. The study also showed that looking at a house wall was associated with more complications. It was shown that people who live in a green neighborhood are significantly less likely to develop diabetes, high blood pressure or cardiovascular disorders.
People don’t just perceive colors visually. There are light-sensitive sensors all over your skin that react physically to colors. Your nervous system recognizes the color and sends specific signals to your autonomic nervous system. Depending on the color, your metabolism, breathing and blood pressure react. This is also accompanied by different feelings you experience when looking at a color.
People with the right colors in the room can work more concentrated or relax faster. Green is a life-affirming color that triggers happy hormones. As the color of nature, it gives you a feeling of security. This feeling is firmly rooted in humans, as a green hill or dense forest has been a good hiding place for our ancestors. Moreover, it is a color that releases happiness hormones and has a motivating and balancing effect.
A walk through the forest is also worthwhile in autumn: the color orange has been proven to lead to the release of dopamine, a reward hormone. It has an invigorating and mood-lifting effect. Studies from experimental psychology show that yellow inhibits anxiety and generates pleasant feelings, while red makes people more attentive and sharpens their eye for detail.
Less detail is offered by the view from a mountain top, but it does your eyes good. After a long hike, you can gaze long and hard into the distance. This relaxes the ciliary muscle, which always remains tense when looking close up (laptop, smartphone).
FOREST ON PRESCRIPTION
Clear your head in the forest. With all the findings, it’s no wonder that in some parts of the world, visits to the forest are part of preventive health care.
Doctors now know that the forest boosts the immune system. The team led by Qing Li found that the number and activity of natural killer cells increased in people who walked in the forest for six hours within three days. These attack tumor cells, among other things. The positive effect on the immune cells lasted for seven days, and so Li posits that regular walks in the woods could prevent cancer. He recommends spending two full days in a forest per month.
Nature affects the body as well as the mind. While climate change and the extreme weather that accompanies it can trigger anxiety, the interplay of colors and scents in the forest has a positive effect on mental illnesses such as depression and burnout.