Forest Bathing

[kaltbluter]

Maybe I should've put this in idle chatter..

Here's the story at The Washington Post.

Those that practice Shinrin-yoku explain that it differs from hiking or informative nature excursions because it centers on the therapeutic aspects of forest bathing.

No, not this topic.

“There have been studies comparing walking in nature with walking in an urban environment and testing people on their mood, different aspects of depression, and in some cases, brain scans,” said David Yaden, a research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Center. “In the natural setting, people are more relaxed and less stressed.”

Was a brain scan really necessary to figure this one out?

“In Japan, Shinrin-yoku trails are certified by a blood-sampling study to determine whether the natural killer cell count is raised enough for the trail to qualify,” Page said. “I should also note that in Japan and Korea, forest therapy modalities are integrated into their medical system and are covered by insurance.”

Medically certified trails. Reminds me of this and this.

[Koda]

"if your doctor is a tree, your on acid"...


seriously though, Wikipedia has a good article on the benefits of Shinrin-yoku (森林浴)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_bathing

[sgyoung]

“There have been studies comparing walking in nature with walking in an urban environment and testing people on their mood, different aspects of depression, and in some cases, brain scans,” said David Yaden, a research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Center. “In the natural setting, people are more relaxed and less stressed.”

Was a brain scan really necessary to figure this one out?

Perhaps not entirely, but there is value in neuro research on this question. For one, it gets around limitations of explicit measures of stress and emotion (e.g., demand effects, etc). More theoretically, there are several stages involved in the stress response and functional imaging work can isolate when the body's response to stress is moderated by exposure to nature (e.g., are low level processes involved in attention and arousal affected vs. higher order aspects of cognitive regulation and appraisal?).

Sorry - was that pedantic? I'm a psychologist and got excited to reply to your probably-rhetorical question.

[kaltbluter]

I'm a psychologist and got excited to reply to your probably-rhetorical question.

Yeah, it was rhetorical. But while reading your response I began picturing an immense MRI installed in a tranquil forest for this study. So, thanks for that little bit of amusment.

I'll restate my response with less rhetoricalness and greater precision:

“In the natural setting, people are more relaxed and less stressed.”

“Well, DUH!”

[Guy]

Well I practice Shin(森) rin(林) yoku(浴) every Sunday but I always keep my clothes on

Banner from our Smugmug Photo site:



Interestingly this came up here back in 2013 too.
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=16708&hilit=shinrin+yoku

[sgyoung]

But while reading your response I began picturing an immense MRI installed in a tranquil forest for this study. So, thanks for that little bit of amusment.

If only. I'd run that study. I mean, it couldn't be in wilderness area obviously, but otherwise I see no issues

I'll restate my response with less rhetoricalness and greater precision:

“In the natural setting, people are more relaxed and less stressed.”

“Well, DUH!”

Fair enough.