Forests Make You Feel Good. Here's Why.

When we started our classes, we were very much aware of the developmental benefits for children. However, one of the surprising discoveries was that we, as educators, also experienced numerous benefits. We began to notice that no matter how tired we were during the commute to the park forest, within 10 minutes of being among the trees, we began to feel calmer, more awake, and alive.

Numerous studies indicate that being in nature decreases stress and increases a sense of peace and well-being.

A 2015 Stanford University study found that walking in nature could lead to a lower risk of depression. (Bratman et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2015)

A study of nearly 1000 Swedish city residents concluded that the more often an individual visited urban open green spaces, the less often they reported stress-related illnesses (Grahn and Stigsdotter, Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 2003).

This stress release was something that we experienced ourselves, so we got curious about why that might be and started to do some research. Here are a few of the things we discovered. When your body perceives stress, your adrenal glands make and release the hormone cortisol into your bloodstream.

Elevated cortisol interferes with learning and memory, weakens immune function and bone density, and increases weight gain, blood pressure, and heart disease (Franke, Children, 2014).

It also impacts mental health and resiliency by disrupting brain development in children, triggering emotional problems and depressive disorders, and negatively affecting attention and inhibitory control (Shern et al., Mental Health America, 2014).

However, in research on "Shinrin-yoku," the prefrontal activity was reduced, and the stress hormone concentration was lowered in subjects exposed to a forest environment. Tsunetsugu, Y., Park, BJ. & Miyazaki, Y. Trends

Shinrin-yoku (森林浴) (which translates to "forest bath") is the Japanese practice of "bathing" oneself in nature to receive therapeutic benefits. Beginning in the 1980s in Japan, the technique of shinrin-yoku was developed by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture. Since then, there has been study after study that affirms the effectiveness of the therapy, and its popularity has since spread widely.

As it turns out, a simple walk in the forest leads to complex favorable results.