Contents
Surrounding yourself with plants improves your health without you noticing
Psychology
Forest baths, taking a walk in a park or having plants at home increase our mental well-being
The image of a person hugging a tree, no matter how bizarre it becomes, is also common, because because of what ‘they feel good energies’ there are those who if they see a robust trunk feel the need to wrap their arms around it for a moment. Beyond that ‘perception of energy’ that can be said to have when ‘shaking’ a tree, there is something that is undeniable and assures not only experts, but also studies: Surrounding ourselves with nature is beneficial to health.
The trend of filling houses with plants, and the effort to create green areas in cities aims to take advantage of all the benefits that can be obtained from contact with nature. They explain from the Sports and Challenge Foundation and the Álvaro Entrecanales Foundation, which prepare sports activities that have a benefit beyond the physical, that one of their star activities are the so-called ‘forest baths’. «This practice from Japan, also known as ‘Shinrin Yoku’, makes the participants spend more time in the forest, with the aim of improve health, well-being and happiness», They indicate. The term comes from its most important principle: it is beneficial to ‘bathe’ and immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the forest. “Studies reveal some physiological and psychological benefits of this practice such as improvements in mood, decrease in stress hormones, reinforcement of the immune system, improvement of creativity, etc.”, they list from the foundations.
Do we miss nature?
Our body, when coming into contact with the natural environment, has a positive reaction without realizing it. José Antonio Corraliza, professor of Environmental Psychology at the Autonomous University of Madrid, explains that this may be because “we miss nature without realizing it”, a phenomenon called ‘nature deficit disorder’. The teacher says that normally, after being very tired, we go for a walk in a large park and we improve. “We realize that we miss nature when after an experience of fatigue we feel good to come into contact with it,” he points out.
In addition, explains the writer Richard Louv, who coined the term ‘nature deficit disorder’ that, no matter how small the natural environment with which we have contact, it will have a positive impact on us. «Any green space will give us mental benefits“Although the greater the biodiversity, the greater the benefit,” he says.
Such is the importance of ‘green’ that even having plants at home is good for us. Manuel Pardo, a doctor in botany specializing in Ethnobotany assures that, “just as we speak of companion animals, we have company plants.” He reaffirms the importance of having nature around us by pointing out that plants “can turn a sterile-looking urban landscape into a fertile image.” “Having plants increases our well-being, we have them close by and they are not something static and decorative, we see them grow,” he says.
Likewise, it talks about the psychological function that a plant can fulfill, since these become not only a decoration, but memories or even ‘companions’. Manuel Pardo comments that plants are easy to pass; They may tell us about people and remind us of our emotional ties. “Also, plants help us to reinforce the idea that we are living beings,” he concludes.