Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Psychology of Your Twenties,
Speaker 1: the podcast where we talk through some of the big
Speaker 1: life changes and transitions of our twenties and what they
Speaker 1: mean for our psychology. Hello everybody, Welcome back to the show.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the podcast. New listeners, old listeners. Wherever
Speaker 1: you are in the world, you know the deal. Welcome
Speaker 1: back for another episode. Today, we are going to take
Speaker 1: a deep look into what psychology has to say about
Speaker 1: the healing power of nature. Nature, the outdoors, time spent
Speaker 1: by the beach, ingreenery, the forest. They are such an
Speaker 1: incredibly profound sense of joy and peace for so many
Speaker 1: good reasons. It relieves stress, It allows us to step
Speaker 1: away from our monotonous routines. It actively rewires our brain
Speaker 1: in such a positive way, and the research and benefits
Speaker 1: are honestly endless, and we're going to talk about all
Speaker 1: of them because I think it is so profound, and
Speaker 1: the impact that nature can have on our psychological well
Speaker 1: being does not get the recognition it deserves. However, as
Speaker 1: a generation, I think we have become more and more
Speaker 1: detached from this natural urge and instinct, from our drive
Speaker 1: towards kind of the wilderness. Technology and social media in particular,
Speaker 1: consume so much of our time. We are spending more
Speaker 1: time indoors than any other generation, most of us living
Speaker 1: in huge cities, and we've become very severed from this
Speaker 1: innate need. I've even noticed that in my own life.
Speaker 1: You know, there are so many days that I just
Speaker 1: don't go outdoors, and that makes me feel so stagnant
Speaker 1: and unhealthy and just really detached from what I know.
Speaker 1: My brain needs this like very deep need, and the
Speaker 1: consequences of that are becoming so apparent, not just personally
Speaker 1: and anecdotally, but we're seeing increasing problems with attention, overall,
Speaker 1: life satisfaction, social skills connection. It's even created these new
Speaker 1: terms like nature deficit disorder, showing us that this alienation
Speaker 1: from our natural environment is really creating a lot of problems.
Speaker 1: So today I want to discuss the studies and the
Speaker 1: science behind the healing power of nature and how to
Speaker 1: implement that in our lives. We're going to look at
Speaker 1: all the evidence, especially from this new discipline of ecopsychology,
Speaker 1: but also some of the origins of this understanding, from
Speaker 1: the idea of forest bathing in Japan, forest schools in Scandinavia,
Speaker 1: and some really amazing techniques and just general philosophies and
Speaker 1: understanding from some indigenous cultures in Australia and New Zealand.
Speaker 1: What I find particularly fascinating is probably not the word
Speaker 1: maybe a little bit disturbing, is that Western psychology in
Speaker 1: particular is often really dismissive of how nature can be
Speaker 1: integrated into our treatment for mental health symptoms and conditions,
Speaker 1: and it just kind of pathologizes us. We're so preoccupied
Speaker 1: with finding a label for things and with pharmaceuticals, which
Speaker 1: definitely have their place, but I think that we've really
Speaker 1: lost touch with that holistic perspective. So I also really
Speaker 1: want to kind of explore how we can integrate exposure
Speaker 1: to nature into our daily routine, from the big things
Speaker 1: to the daily rituals, and the impact that we might
Speaker 1: just see on our lifestyle and our emotional and mental
Speaker 1: health and sense of fulfillment. It's a huge episode. There
Speaker 1: is so much to cover, and some of them my
Speaker 1: favorite psychology of the day is coming from this new discipline,
Speaker 1: so I really cannot wait to share it. Also, if
Speaker 1: you are not yet subscribed to my Patreon, please make
Speaker 1: sure to go and follow me over there, you'll get
Speaker 1: access to bonus content, new episodes, episode transcripts, studies, a newsletter,
Speaker 1: so many good things. So I really appreciate the support
Speaker 1: so many of you have already showed me. Without further Ado,
Speaker 1: let's discuss the healing power of nature and all of
Speaker 1: the science and psychology supporting our need to reconnect. I'm
Speaker 1: so excited. I cannot stress this enough. If you're feeling
Speaker 1: a bit lost, a bit disconnected from yourself, this is
Speaker 1: essential listening. So without further Ado, let's get into it.
Speaker 1: I think every single one of us has this intuitive
Speaker 1: understand that nature is an incredibly vital ingredient for our wellbeing,
Speaker 1: one that we have become very much detached from due
Speaker 1: to this increasingly technology based society. Just you know, fifty,
Speaker 1: even forty thirty years ago, we lived in a completely
Speaker 1: different world in which the outdoors and nature they were
Speaker 1: our entertainment. They were a deeply valuable part of our
Speaker 1: everyday lives, when our attention was not constantly being pulled
Speaker 1: a million different directions by social media and smart watches
Speaker 1: and office screens. There's been this massive societal and environmental
Speaker 1: pivot that our generation, those in our twenties have experienced
Speaker 1: and are continuing to kind of witness. Someone said this
Speaker 1: to me the other day, and it kind of like
Speaker 1: stopped me because I'd never thought about it. But we
Speaker 1: are perhaps the last group of people who experienced at
Speaker 1: least some of our childhood or our lives without screens.
Speaker 1: We can still remember running down to the local park
Speaker 1: after school, riding our bikes around, climbing trees, playing in
Speaker 1: the mud, all of these really crucial elements of play
Speaker 1: that relied on nature as the stimuli, not something inorganic.
Speaker 1: And I think although we've only just started to see
Speaker 1: what this shift is doing to young kids and this
Speaker 1: new generation, innately we know that time spent outdoors is
Speaker 1: never time wasted, and that we feel better when we
Speaker 1: experience nature compared to the alternatives of spending hours and
Speaker 1: hours scrolling on our phones. That's something that has changed,
Speaker 1: and for the first time in humanity's history, we are
Speaker 1: spending more time indoors. We have a very limited diversity
Speaker 1: of experiences. The other shift that I think is important
Speaker 1: here is that we're seeing that by twenty fifty, maybe early,
Speaker 1: it's been projected by scientists, by researchers that two thirds
Speaker 1: of humanity will be living in either cities or urban areas.
Speaker 1: We are becoming more and more severed from those evolutionary roots.
Speaker 1: And this has even inspired this new term that I
Speaker 1: was speaking about before, nature deficit disorder, the idea, and
Speaker 1: it was really only introduced back in two thousand and five,
Speaker 1: so less than twenty years ago. It claims that humans
Speaker 1: we're spending less time outdoors and this is resulting in
Speaker 1: a sense of really deep alienation and a wide range
Speaker 1: of behavioral problems, especially amongst children. And I will say
Speaker 1: it's not a diagnosable medical condition as of yet, but
Speaker 1: there is this expanding body of scientific evidence that suggests
Speaker 1: that a nature deficit disorder contributes to to a diminished
Speaker 1: use of our senses, attention difficulties, greater problems with emotional regulation,
Speaker 1: and also just a lack of natural curiosity. These researchers,
Speaker 1: particularly the person who created this time, what they're suggesting
Speaker 1: is that this experience, this trend is really weakening our
Speaker 1: ecological literacy and that children in this generation we are
Speaker 1: caring less and less about the natural world, which is
Speaker 1: super problematic when we consider things like climate change, where
Speaker 1: we need people to care, We need people to want
Speaker 1: to protect these spaces. But these problems are also linked
Speaker 1: more broadly to what health experts call an epidemic of inactivity.
Speaker 1: Our lives are endoors, they are contained, and we are
Speaker 1: very much missing out on how much healing nature can
Speaker 1: and provide us. This understanding actually has a lot of
Speaker 1: scientific backing, so much so that researchers have created an
Speaker 1: entirely new discipline called ecopsychology to examine this very universal experience.
Speaker 1: So ecopsychology is interested in understanding how we can increase
Speaker 1: the connection between individuals and the natural environment for the
Speaker 1: purpose of treating certain mental health conditions or promoting connection,
Speaker 1: remedying alienation. Whilst I think typically we see conventional psychology
Speaker 1: as being really focused on the connection between humans and
Speaker 1: our mind and our behavior, ecopsychology is focused on the
Speaker 1: emotional bond and the connection between humans and the earth.
Speaker 1: The essential idea is that we have become detached from
Speaker 1: our evolutionary roots, and by restoring our connection with our
Speaker 1: minds with nature, we can psychologically almost heal some of
Speaker 1: the modern day things that are impacting a lot of people.
Speaker 1: You know, our external environment becomes a lot more industrialized
Speaker 1: and clinical. That's a big concern because our brains are
Speaker 1: still attuned to the ways of nature through centuries and
Speaker 1: centuries of evolution, and by depriving it of that source
Speaker 1: of stimulation and energy, we're kind of limiting what aspects
Speaker 1: and areas of our brain that we can use, what
Speaker 1: our brain is actually capable of. This idea has several
Speaker 1: fundamental principles ecopsychology in general, and I think they're incredibly powerful.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to list a few here before we
Speaker 1: jump into the actual research, because I actually think a
Speaker 1: lot of us innately believe this. So here are some
Speaker 1: of the principles. Firstly, there is this synergetic interplay between
Speaker 1: the planet, between Earth and our personal well baing the
Speaker 1: core of our mind is ecologically conscious. The goal of
Speaker 1: ecopsychology is to awaken that inherent sense of environmental reciprocity
Speaker 1: that lies between us and the natural environment. And Finally,
Speaker 1: the ecological ego matures towards a sense of ethical responsibility
Speaker 1: with the planet, and that's something we want to cultivate.
Speaker 1: I think it's really interesting, if not quite frustrating. Like
Speaker 1: I said, that this discipline doesn't really get the attention
Speaker 1: and the love and the credit it deserves. I think
Speaker 1: because of this very detached clinical approach to psychology that
Speaker 1: has dominated the field for many, many years, we have
Speaker 1: become increasingly focused on pharmaceutical interventions and treatment of symptoms
Speaker 1: rather than a holistic approach to our emotional and mental wellbeing.
Speaker 1: I'm not discrediting that at all. I really hope that
Speaker 1: it's not taken out of context. I definitely personally have
Speaker 1: benefited and will continue to benefit from medical interventions for
Speaker 1: my mental health, but I think our discussions should be
Speaker 1: a lot more nuanced and inclusive of different options and
Speaker 1: different sources of healing. Luckily for us, more and more
Speaker 1: research is being devoted to this, so I want to
Speaker 1: cover some of the major studies. One of the biggest
Speaker 1: ones was conducted in the UK, and they conducted this
Speaker 1: study of around twenty thousand people, and they found that
Speaker 1: people who spent two hours a week in green spaces
Speaker 1: that could literally just be your local park, they were
Speaker 1: substantially more likely to report good health and psychological well
Speaker 1: being than those who don't, and the cutoff was literally
Speaker 1: two hours. Anything less than that we didn't start to
Speaker 1: see the same benefits. Similarly, all these psychiatric unit researchers.
Speaker 1: They've been finding that being in nature it has reduced
Speaker 1: feelings of isolation, it's promoted a sense of calmness, and
Speaker 1: it's even lifted the mood amongst their patients who are
Speaker 1: undergoing treatment for various psychiatric disorders. Actually, in one of
Speaker 1: the possibly the earliest actually observations on this, this was
Speaker 1: like two hundred years ago, back in eighteen twelve, this
Speaker 1: physician he worked with mental health patients, and he found
Speaker 1: that his patients who had to pay for their treatment
Speaker 1: by doing yard work on the hospital grounds, so they
Speaker 1: were outside for at least three to four hours, essentially
Speaker 1: doing manual labor in nature to pay for their treatment,
Speaker 1: they actually recovered faster than the wealthier patients who could
Speaker 1: afford the cost of treatment and who kind of just
Speaker 1: walked around inside and stayed inside for much of the day.
Speaker 1: That really flips what we would typically see. It's also
Speaker 1: worth noting this is an observation, this isn't a study,
Speaker 1: but it is kind of back to up by more
Speaker 1: of those experimental conditions and experimental research that has come
Speaker 1: out in recent years. One in twenty nineteen at the
Speaker 1: University of Chicago, these two researchers examined the influence of
Speaker 1: a local green environments on people in cities and large communities,
Speaker 1: large concrete communities, and they found that green spaces near
Speaker 1: schools really promote cognitive development in children, even just seeing
Speaker 1: greenery they don't even have to be in it promotes
Speaker 1: this sense of well being and emotional and cognitive development
Speaker 1: that's been backed up. They did this incredibly. I think
Speaker 1: it is possibly one of the largest longitudinal studies ever conducted.
Speaker 1: These researchers in Denmark. They examined data from more than
Speaker 1: nine hundred thousand, yes, close to a million, nine hundred
Speaker 1: thousand children born between nineteen eighty five in two thousand
Speaker 1: and three, and they found that those kids who lived
Speaker 1: in neighborhoods with more green space had a reduced risks
Speaker 1: of many psychiatric disorders later in life, including depression, mood disorders, schizophrenia,
Speaker 1: eating disorders. I will say one of the things that
Speaker 1: really I think conflates with that finding, or maybe is
Speaker 1: an extraneous variable, is the influence of wealth. You know,
Speaker 1: people who make more money can afford to buy homes
Speaker 1: with backyards or in really affluent suburbs where they have
Speaker 1: well maintained public parks. And obviously, as we say in psychology,
Speaker 1: correlation is not causation, and we are by no means
Speaker 1: suggesting that a hike is going to cure someone's major
Speaker 1: mood disorder, but it is something to note, and I
Speaker 1: think it's part of that larger tapestry of evidence. We've
Speaker 1: also seen that people assigned to public housing units in
Speaker 1: neighborhood with more green space showed better attentional functioning than
Speaker 1: those assigned to units with less access to natural environments,
Speaker 1: and just being exposed to nature it really improves things
Speaker 1: like our working memory. Whilst exposure to urban environments, particularly
Speaker 1: through childhood to adulthood, is linked to attention deficits, maybe
Speaker 1: even at the extreme, and this is very much at
Speaker 1: the extreme things like ADHD, it may also go way
Speaker 1: deeper than that. It just provides a general sense of
Speaker 1: well being that also helps to reduce things like crime
Speaker 1: and aggression. Back in twenty fifteen, also in the UK,
Speaker 1: they're really pushing a lot of this research at the moment.
Speaker 1: They conducted a study on two thousand people and they
Speaker 1: found that more exposure to the natural environment translated into
Speaker 1: more community cohesion and substantially lower crime rates. Once again,
Speaker 1: we have to think about the other rbles there, things
Speaker 1: like wealth. But all of these findings are just combining
Speaker 1: to show that nature is an integral part of our wellbeing,
Speaker 1: of our physical health, of our mental health, of our
Speaker 1: emotional health, that we don't only neglect, but the environments
Speaker 1: that we now live in are neglecting for us. The
Speaker 1: reason I wanted to provide so many examples is because
Speaker 1: I want to kind of show the diversity of the impacts.
Speaker 1: It's not just about our psychological wellbeing, but it's about
Speaker 1: sense of community, it's about physical health, it's about loneliness.
Speaker 1: The list is like honestly endless. This is just like
Speaker 1: a minor cross section of all that is going into
Speaker 1: kind of pushing the field of ecopsychology along. However, the
Speaker 1: idea that nature has these innate healing properties is by
Speaker 1: no means a new one. It has a really rich
Speaker 1: and diverse history. It spans across the world Japan and Finland, Australia, Italy,
Speaker 1: especially in a lot of indigenous cultures. Perhaps that's another
Speaker 1: reason why it's sometimes discredited. Western medicine is very much
Speaker 1: plagued by what we would call biological reductionism. It's always
Speaker 1: looking for some internal pathological origin of a lot of
Speaker 1: our problems rather than looking externally to what's happening in
Speaker 1: our environment that might be making us feel this way.
Speaker 1: And for many, many years, there has been this amazing
Speaker 1: amount of knowledge in a lot of indigenous and non
Speaker 1: Western cultures that has been claiming that, that has been
Speaker 1: saying that. So what I really want to focus on
Speaker 1: next is what are some of these historical and cultural
Speaker 1: links that have been made between exposure to nature and
Speaker 1: well being. Why is nature so powerful? What is actually
Speaker 1: happening in our brains and our bodies to promote these outcomes?
Speaker 1: And of course, in this increasingly digitalized world, in this
Speaker 1: industrialized world, how do we integrate these practices into our
Speaker 1: very busy lives. I know it's very easy for me
Speaker 1: to kind of stand up on this podium or my
Speaker 1: soapbox and be like, we need to spend more time
Speaker 1: in nature. But I know a lot of us are
Speaker 1: like that is so unrealistic. So let's talk through how
Speaker 1: we can actually do that. It's a lot easier than
Speaker 1: we think. So all of that and more in just
Speaker 1: a second. One of the best examples of a modern
Speaker 1: day in nature therapy or practice is called forest bathing
Speaker 1: or shinrin yuruku in Japanese. This idea emerged in Japan
Speaker 1: in the early nineteen eighties and the purpose was to
Speaker 1: literally take time to bathe in nature. It's not about exercise,
Speaker 1: it's not about kind of count your calories or get
Speaker 1: fit or hiking or jogging, but connecting with nature through
Speaker 1: all of our senses through sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell,
Speaker 1: and by doing this kind of opening those pathways back
Speaker 1: up to the natural world. It's actually become a vital
Speaker 1: part of preventive healthcare in Japan. Some doctors will literally
Speaker 1: prescribe forest bathing to burn out office workers, and the
Speaker 1: government has actually invested in this. They've done a series
Speaker 1: as studies and they found that this practice improved sleep quality, mood,
Speaker 1: reduce stress levels. There's a really good book on this
Speaker 1: very practice. It's called Forest Bathing, How Trees Can Help
Speaker 1: You Find Health and Happiness. A friend gave it to
Speaker 1: me last year, maybe a couple of years ago, and
Speaker 1: it's really incredible. It's really quite profound seeing how I
Speaker 1: guess what we can bring to our lives and how
Speaker 1: we can elevate our experiences with nature. There's also this
Speaker 1: idea in ancient China of chi which is the vital
Speaker 1: connection between humans and the earth, and that connection has
Speaker 1: formed a big part of the naturopathy movement in the
Speaker 1: nineteenth century. Other countries and cultures have very similar ideas
Speaker 1: or practices for promoting a spiritual and psychological reconnection with nature.
Speaker 1: In a lot of Scandinavian countries they have these things
Speaker 1: called forest schools. In Australia we call them bush schools,
Speaker 1: and essentially the premise is that learning should take place
Speaker 1: in a natural setting where children are able to explore
Speaker 1: and discover, away from screens and away from kind of
Speaker 1: some of those traditional learning practices. It's also called woodland
Speaker 1: or free range learning, like free range chickens, and the
Speaker 1: idea came about in the nineteen nineties amongst this small
Speaker 1: group of Danish educators that although their schools may not
Speaker 1: have an actual classroom, they could provide a better learning experience.
Speaker 1: I think, if you've always been raised in a really
Speaker 1: conventional idea of what schooling should be, this may seem
Speaker 1: like kind of bizarre, maybe a bit abstract, But I
Speaker 1: remember spending so much time in nature. As a child,
Speaker 1: me and my sisters and my cousins, we would go
Speaker 1: and explore the bush with my granddad and we would
Speaker 1: plant flowers and make mud patties and swim in the creek.
Speaker 1: I remember those memories so clearly. They're like a massive
Speaker 1: part of my identity. But you know what I don't remember.
Speaker 1: I do not remember a single thing about my primary
Speaker 1: school classroom, not a single thing. I think the only
Speaker 1: thing I can remember is like the class pets that
Speaker 1: we had, and like standardized testing. I'm not saying that
Speaker 1: I didn't learn important things during that time, but a
Speaker 1: lot of that could have been elevated, and I probably
Speaker 1: would have benefited from a more integrated classroom experience that
Speaker 1: combined the outdoors, which luckily I was already getting in
Speaker 1: like my leisure time thanks to my parents, but combined
Speaker 1: that with some of those wild and natural experiences. And
Speaker 1: I feel really bad for kids who don't get that.
Speaker 1: I think they really miss out on some of that
Speaker 1: natural curiosity. I've also been contemplating this idea a lot
Speaker 1: in terms of my future children. Maybe that's an idea
Speaker 1: we should do on the show. Like I don't know
Speaker 1: what it was, but I entered my like mid twenties
Speaker 1: and was like, couldn't stop thinking about children. We need
Speaker 1: to talk about that, actually, But sidebar, I've been thinking
Speaker 1: a lot in terms of the kids that I want
Speaker 1: to raise someday, and I would want my children to
Speaker 1: be a little bit wild, to always be a little
Speaker 1: bit dirty and a little bit messy. I think there
Speaker 1: is so much of this recent science that shows how
Speaker 1: valuable those early experiences and that spiritual and psychological connection
Speaker 1: with nature, how profound and powerful that could be. And
Speaker 1: so when I think about how I would want to
Speaker 1: raise perhaps future children, future versions of me, I kind
Speaker 1: of reflect on what that says about my priorities right
Speaker 1: now and how I can reflect that in my own life.
Speaker 1: I will say this idea has existed for a long time,
Speaker 1: and a lot of indigenous cultures have known what Western
Speaker 1: medicine and psychology is only just figuring out, and they've
Speaker 1: known it for thousands and thousands of years. In Australia,
Speaker 1: our first nations people specifically Aboriginal and torrestright islander people,
Speaker 1: who are the oldest known civilization on Earth. They have
Speaker 1: such a deep idea of country and connection to the land,
Speaker 1: and I think this connection is difficult for non indigenous
Speaker 1: people to grasp something we can learn a lot from
Speaker 1: because these groups, these cultures have long known about it
Speaker 1: and use the healing properties of nature. There was a
Speaker 1: really fascinating article that I read when researching this idea,
Speaker 1: and it discusses this concept of barefoot healing or earthing
Speaker 1: that allows us to feel present in nature and acknowledge
Speaker 1: the interconnectedness between us and kind of every living thing.
Speaker 1: And the Maori people of New Zealand, I know that
Speaker 1: they also have kind of a similar philosophy and connection
Speaker 1: to the land. So many cultures, so many societies have
Speaker 1: known about this. So why is it that this practice
Speaker 1: could prove so valuable for this current generation. How do
Speaker 1: we adopt this kind of learning and understanding? What are
Speaker 1: the psychological explanations that can be offered for these deep
Speaker 1: shifts that we see in our emotional state and see
Speaker 1: in our mental well being. To answer that, we need
Speaker 1: to look at the neural and lobal structures of the
Speaker 1: brain and how our brain has evolved to ad to
Speaker 1: our environment. Specifically, the role of this new brain when
Speaker 1: we think about the activities that were crucial for our
Speaker 1: survival and therefore have the greatest role in the evolution
Speaker 1: of our brains. These are around things like foraging and hunting,
Speaker 1: and both activities obviously occurred in a natural environment. I
Speaker 1: want to focus mainly on foraging here. We used to
Speaker 1: spend our days searching for food, for useful resources, for berries,
Speaker 1: for sustenance. What that involved was a really complex cognitive process,
Speaker 1: constant exposure to new stimuli, a rich environment, and choice
Speaker 1: options and cost benefit analysis problem solving. Crucially, what this
Speaker 1: also meant is that when we were doing this, we
Speaker 1: were using different parts of our brain and building different
Speaker 1: synaptic connections that created a larger and more cognitively complex
Speaker 1: structure that is our current brain at this point of evolution.
Speaker 1: As we started really I guess, old humans, ancient humans,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call them, As they started building
Speaker 1: these neural networks, as they started exploring more and problem
Speaker 1: solving more, we saw this idea of the new brain.
Speaker 1: We saw this new brain begin to develop, and that
Speaker 1: is what truly made us human. That is where we
Speaker 1: see our identity form, our personality, our social skills, and
Speaker 1: all of that has evolved within an environment of natural fulfillment. Therefore,
Speaker 1: the more and more detached we come from these surroundings,
Speaker 1: the more and more we see those negative mental consequences
Speaker 1: that we've discussed, Our modern day environment does not stimulate
Speaker 1: this same activity or cognitive thrill. When we're trying to
Speaker 1: navigate our concrete cities. We're doing monotonous daily tasks, Flashing
Speaker 1: screens that constant spike in dopamine, and listen by social media.
Speaker 1: All of that requires the kind of attention that is
Speaker 1: incredibly procedural and automatic. It doesn't take much from us
Speaker 1: cognitively or emotionally, or when we think about the comparison between, say,
Speaker 1: the use of social media and natural scavenging, social media
Speaker 1: is designed to hijack our reward system and to give
Speaker 1: us a very immediate dopamine hit that is highly addictive
Speaker 1: because it doesn't require much effort, but it also gives
Speaker 1: us less satisfaction when we compare that to activities where
Speaker 1: we are actively curious about our environment and in a
Speaker 1: process of discovery, that creates a slower release of dopamine
Speaker 1: that is more fulfilling, and that slow release effect also
Speaker 1: means that it lasts for longer. I have a very
Speaker 1: particular vitual towards screens because we have consistently seen that
Speaker 1: more and more ours and daily exposure to laptops to phones,
Speaker 1: it's associated with lower psychological well being because it is
Speaker 1: so limited, same colors, same apps, same daily activities. In
Speaker 1: a natural environment, however, we pay attention more broadly and
Speaker 1: in a way that is rewarding, which leads to a
Speaker 1: far more relaxed body and a relaxed mind. It's also
Speaker 1: been found that exposure to nature reduces cortisol levels. Cortisol
Speaker 1: is the hormone that is responsible for our stress response,
Speaker 1: and when our levels of cortisol are elevated for a
Speaker 1: long time, we see things like increased illnesses, increased sickness,
Speaker 1: increased blood pressure. So putting ourselves in nature also reduces
Speaker 1: our likelihood of developing some of those chronic health problems
Speaker 1: as well. There's I've also been this study floating around
Speaker 1: social media recently which claims that seeing water improves our
Speaker 1: mental health. I will admit I was a bit skeptical
Speaker 1: because anytime I see psychological studies or conclusions online that
Speaker 1: don't have a source, half of the time they're not true.
Speaker 1: But surprisingly this one actually is. This study was published
Speaker 1: in the American Association of Advancement Science and It found
Speaker 1: that staring at the ocean actually changes our brain wave
Speaker 1: frequency and can put us in almost a mild meditative state.
Speaker 1: Water seems to have this specifically psychologically restorative effect. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's because of the sunlight less polluted air, but we
Speaker 1: know that it significantly improves our mood and our mental wellbeing.
Speaker 1: And finally, nature offers novelty. When we are used to
Speaker 1: our habitual patterns and daily routine, the scrolling the work commute,
Speaker 1: what we're missing out on is new experiences, and research
Speaker 1: shows that novelty triggers the release of dopemine in the
Speaker 1: brain as a reward, encouraging us to be more curious
Speaker 1: and to be more motivated. That may be the reason
Speaker 1: why we see this healing power of nature. It's the newness.
Speaker 1: It's the break from the usual that stimulates this ancient
Speaker 1: evolutionary need. So how do we integrate this, especially when
Speaker 1: our lives are so busy, and for those who are
Speaker 1: living in cities, we are in these highly developed environments.
Speaker 1: I think it's all about what you choose to prioritize.
Speaker 1: The easiest thing we can do is what is most convenient.
Speaker 1: You could spend your weekends watching TV, You could spend
Speaker 1: your weekends drinking, spending hours on your phone, or you
Speaker 1: can make the conscious decision to do what you know
Speaker 1: will be better for you psychologically in the long term.
Speaker 1: The choices really yours. You are the only one who
Speaker 1: gets to make that decision, and it's about deciding what
Speaker 1: kind of life you're prepared to live. Plan a weekend trip,
Speaker 1: a weekend hike with your friends. Make it an exciting
Speaker 1: activity to kind of look towards and carry you through
Speaker 1: the week. The other thing is to make like a
Speaker 1: bit of a bucket list of local nature spots, beaches,
Speaker 1: picnic locations, or just make the time to do normal
Speaker 1: activities in these locations, like exercising, catching up with friends
Speaker 1: rather than going to a bar, go to the local park.
Speaker 1: You're going to save money but also get that nature fix.
Speaker 1: I think it's all about slowly reprogramming those hijacked Dove
Speaker 1: Maine systems to be positioned towards the outdoors rather than
Speaker 1: indoor screen based activities. One thing I love doing is
Speaker 1: planning trips with a big group of friends that are
Speaker 1: based around nature. The best kind is a coast trip.
Speaker 1: Everyone loves a coast trip. Everyone loves a little beach holiday,
Speaker 1: and you'll also get the benefit of breaking up your
Speaker 1: usual environment with this natural, novel experience. I think it's
Speaker 1: not just about the big things, though, these very large
Speaker 1: time and energy commitments. In a lot of those studies
Speaker 1: that we've spoken about, they reference consistent, frequent exposure, and
Speaker 1: I know that can feel really hard in big cities
Speaker 1: or when you're super busy. I think that's the other
Speaker 1: problem I often found when I was working full time,
Speaker 1: was that when the sun rises at eight and it
Speaker 1: sets at four, and your daytime is consumed with work,
Speaker 1: how is it even possible to get that necessary outdoor time.
Speaker 1: It's all about the small habits, the daily rituals, finding
Speaker 1: a way to program nature into your everyday routine. We
Speaker 1: all eat lunch, to find a way to eat lunch outside.
Speaker 1: Walk to work in the mornings if you can, or
Speaker 1: just try and get up early for a nice stroll.
Speaker 1: Take ten minutes to just sit in the sun and
Speaker 1: feel the wind, hear the sounds, the sensation of it
Speaker 1: on your face, what it smells like, what sounds it's carrying.
Speaker 1: Or challenge yourself to just leave your house every day,
Speaker 1: even if it's just to walk down the Roade. Those
Speaker 1: small moments of exposure are cumulative, and I think better
Speaker 1: than doing nothing at all. I also want to take
Speaker 1: a quick moment here to shout out some of my
Speaker 1: favorite books and further resources on this topic, because if
Speaker 1: you have not noticed, I'm very obsessed with this concept
Speaker 1: and this entire idea of ecopsychology at the moment. I
Speaker 1: think it's so important, it's not spoken about enough and
Speaker 1: so valuable. Rewilding is also a really important idea in
Speaker 1: this space, and this amazing book called Rewilding the Urban
Speaker 1: Soul is incredible for understanding this. I'm also strangely a
Speaker 1: huge fan of Into the Wild. I maybe this doesn't
Speaker 1: sit here, but I think that this movie is incredible.
Speaker 1: Sometimes what we need is not nature itself, but that
Speaker 1: motivation to actually be present. And I don't know what
Speaker 1: it is about this film, but every time I watch it,
Speaker 1: I just have this urge to go and hike like
Speaker 1: the Pacific Cresttrail. It's a must watch. And finally, Losing
Speaker 1: Eden by Lucy Jones. If you love neuroscience, if you
Speaker 1: love psychology, this book is so profound and really really convincing.
Speaker 1: I really hope this episode has at the very least
Speaker 1: left you with something to contemplate. Hope that maybe you
Speaker 1: were on a little stroll while you were listening to this.
Speaker 1: If you are, send me a photo. We'll definitely repost
Speaker 1: it to my Instagram because that is so cool. But
Speaker 1: I just think that nature is such an amazing psychological
Speaker 1: tool and resource that we don't often use. So some
Speaker 1: food for thought, if you will. I really enjoyed this episode.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about this a lot more, so
Speaker 1: maybe we'll do a part two. We'll never know if
Speaker 1: you have an episode suggestion. As always, please feel free
Speaker 1: to follow me at that psychology podcast and follow along
Speaker 1: to see what's coming up. You can find our new
Speaker 1: merch you can just look at video content of my
Speaker 1: show whatever, whatever suits your fancy. Also, we have a
Speaker 1: Patreon now that I plugged at the beginning. It's just
Speaker 1: me doing this show, writing these episodes and creating this content,
Speaker 1: so any support that you can provide is really, really meaningful.
Speaker 1: You also get access to bonus content, so many good things,
Speaker 1: and as all, if you feel compelled to do so,
Speaker 1: please feel free to leave a five star review on
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, Spotify wherever you're listening right now and share
Speaker 1: with a friend, you never know who it will benefit.
Speaker 1: So thank you so much for listening along, tagging along
Speaker 1: today with this episode. We will be back next week
Speaker 1: for another one.