Your Prescription: Vitamin Nature

Why connecting with the natural world is vital to our health and well-being.

We hear a lot about how the earth is going to pot. It’s part of why I became a marine biologist— I wanted to make a difference. 

After more than a decade in the scientific realm, what I’ve come to realize is that you cannot heal the earth without healing the people. 

We are the caretakers of Earth, and we live WITH, not on her. And if we are broken, confused, disconnected, then how could we possibly care for another in the fullest capacity necessary?

So. How do we heal ourselves and the planet?

It’s the most powerful.

And overlooked.

To heal ourselves and the earth, we connect with the natural world around us, wherever we are on this blue planet, in whatever capacity feels the best for us.

We’ve put ourselves in boxes: house, car, office. 

Studies have shown that adults in the US spend less than five hours per week outside. That’s less than three percent of our time per year outside.

Our cells don’t know how to function in this artificial landscape we’ve created. We have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to feel the sun on our face first thing in the morning, to hear birdsong and know we are safe.

In indigenous cultures, there is no word for “Nature.” No word to separate us from the the life-giving force we reside within.

We breathe air created for us by phytoplankton in the ocean and trees in the Amazonian rainforests.

We drink water that’s been on this planet for four billion years, that’s been through countless cycles of transpiration, evaporation, precipitation, snow, ice, and flowed in the rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans across the globe.

We eat food that is made from this same water and sunlight or eats the thing that is made from water and sunlight, and then fertilizes it, completing the cycle.

For hundreds of thousand of years, we knew where our food came from. If we didn’t hunt or gather it ourselves, someone in our village did.

But we don’t have to pick up our ax or spear to ignite this healing power within us.

We simply have to go outside.

The late biologist E.O. Wilson coined the term “Biophilia” which goes something like this:

We evolved from Nature, and therefore have programming in our genes a need to be in and connect with Nature and living things. If we don’t, we go a little haywire, as if we’re missing a necessary nutrient for our body, mind, and sense of self.  

We’re wired to be in contact with the natural world around us.

This is not a new concept. Civilizations have recognized the importance of living in connection with the natural world for thousands of years:

Egyptions around 1550 BC had a complex network of “pleasure gardens” designed for the purpose of de-stressing.

Cyrus the Great around 500 BC commissioned gardens for the crowded urban capital of Persia (Iran) to improve his citizen’s health and increase the sense of “calm” in his city.

In more recent history, science has entered the fray, notebook and pencil in hand, to more closely document this connection between humans and their surroundings.

A Japanese study in the 1980s showed 15 minutes in nature will decrease all the markers that doctors care about: blood pressure, heart rate, stress hormones. 

Another study took people with highest level of stress significant drop in anxiety, depression, and hostility after only two hours in the woods.

The studies resounded so loudly and clearly, a special term was created to describe the phenomenon: shinrin-yoku, “forest bathing.”

They were so confident in the power of Nature that they led groups of people into the woods with bad hearts, kidneys, or immune systems. No hiking or strenuous activity required; the patients simply shuffled about and generally “bathed” in the forest. 

Each group showed improvements. People with heart disease saw blood pressure drop to the levels a doctor may pass as healthy. Diabetics had blood sugar levels get close to a normal level. People with weak immune systems started pumping out 150% more “natural killer cells,” the cells that kill off infections that are trying to kill you.

No calisthenics required.

The Japanese have done 100+ studies on forest bathing and their near always positive findings incited a global research trend.

There is magic in 20 minutes. 

Studies show that twenty minutes outside, three times per week is the dose that most efficiently decreases cortisol, a stress hormone. But there is one teeny tiny little rectangular sized catch: to reap these benefits, technology (and yes, that means your phone) cannot be used.

In Nature, we enter a “soft fascination mode.” It’s mind-wandering but instead of focusing inward, it’s focused outwardly around you. Your attention is turned down, but you’re aware of the outside world.

It’s a state of consciousness that restores and builds the resources we need to think, create, process information and execute tasks. 

It’s mindfulness without the meditation.

It doesn’t have to be complicated. Walking to work, the coffee shop counts and help. Having plants in your office has also been shown to give a 15% boost in productivity and people liked their jobs better.

While twenty minutes, three times a week is helpful, there is a hierarchy, a Nature Pyramid.

The government of Finland did a study of people spending time three different categories of Nature: city center, city park, and in a country park. The research confirmed what the Japanese had found: getting any outside time was beneficial. However, there was another layer to this study. 

Those who spent time in the wilder spaces found an increase in benefits compared to those who spent outdoor time in city centers (no real surprise there— blaring horns and revving engines aren’t exactly relaxing), but is interesting is that the folks who spent time in the country parks even had an edge over those who spent time in a city parks.

The wilder the space, the better. 

City parks and your neighborhood all absolutely count as getting that dose of Vitamin Nature, but the next level up is a more potent dose. The Finnish researchers found that five hours a month in these wilder spaces improved the health of their citizens. 

That’s one or two hikes, picnics, fishing trips, or paddle adventures a month.

The third level of the nature pyramid is what’s referred to as the “three day effect.” A trip into wild places personified by the lack of roads, bathrooms, and cell service, and presence of wild animals.

The ultimate reset button is three days in the wilderness. Studies have shown to improve PTSD symptoms in combat veterans— not just immediately after the trip but even after the trip has ended and they’ve gone back to their lives.

Millions of people across the world take pills and supplements every day that are designed to help them look and feel better, cure a dis-ease, or make them happier.

Perhaps the most important medicine that we intake is Vitamin Nature.

What this looks like is up to you. It can be a time of peace, of observation, of connection. A time of quiet consideration and contemplation.

Your dose of medicine could be trying something new like rock climbing, sailing, or paddleboarding. 

It could be a time for community: a picnic with friends, a cookout, or a meetup at a local sandbar or park.

Your prescription is up to you. So get out there, and fall in love with the world around you.

I’d love to know: what’s your favorite way to get outside? Do you have any outdoor-related trips or activities planned?