Health benefits of Nature Therapy

Dec 1

Phytoncides support your body to produce NK Cells (Natural Killer Cells) and are abundant in the forest. So, what is a Phytoncide?

*“Those who find beauty in all of nature will find themselves at one with the secrets of life itself.” - L. Wolfe Gilbert*

“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery - air, mountains, trees, people.

I thought, ‘This is what it is to be happy.” Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

I haven’t really done a blog before on the research and benefits of Nature and Forest Therapy, so I thought that I would include a few quick and easy explanations on why Nature and Forest Therapy is good for your health. I can definitely see and feel the benefits for myself and I know that it’s extremely beneficial for my health and well-being. So, read on for some quick and easy to understand benefits of what happens while you’re in nature…

Phytoncides are essential oils, or in other words VOCs (volatile organic compound) that trees ‘give off’ when the’re under attack from fungus and parasites. The trees use these scents to protect themselves from being attacked. So in simple terms, when you’re in the forest, breathing in the air around the trees, you’re also breathing in the essential oils that the trees are producing. This in turn enters your body and supports your system. Your body basically responds by increasing the number and activity of a particular kind of white blood cell, called natural killer (NK) cells which then in turn supports your immune system.

Stress can play havoc on your body in ways that you don’t realise. Sometimes you may not even feel stressed, but your body will be telling you something different by the way that it’s coping with infections etc.. during a nature and forest walk you can increase your NK cells which decrease your stress hormones.

“and into the forest i go to lose my mind, and find my soul”. - John muir

So how long do the effects of a trip to the forest last? Research studies show that the effects of a trip into the forest can last for up to 7 days. This makes a lot of sense to me, because if I don’t go and sit by the creek/bush on a weekly basis for a long period of time I start to feel ‘edgy’ I find that sitting in nature awakens my creative side as well as calms my mind and nurtures my soul. It’s a 'must do’ for me.

Research shows that not only do your NK Cells (natural killer cells) increase by spending time in the forest but also your intracellular anti-cancer proteins are increased.

Research and studies also show benefits on depression, anxiety, anger, fatigue and mental confusion. Taking time out in nature can also support your mental state by quieting your mind. During research (links below) blood samples taken showed significantly increased levels of serotonin in the serum, which means that the higher the serotonin, the lower the chances of depression are.

What are some of the essential oils(phytoncides) that trees “give off”?

There are a lot of types of essential oils that are emitted. Some are Alpha-Pinene, Beta-Pinene and Monoterpentine.

*Alpha-Pinene appears as a clear colorless liquid with a turpentine odor. It has the colour or odour of Pine (hence the name). Beta-Pinene is also a colourless mobile liquid with a dry woody, resinous piney aroma. Both have different qualities to support your health.

*Also Monoterpenes are important fragrant molecules widely distributed in nature (more than 400 structures), which can be isolated from the leaves, flowers, and fruits. These compounds presented numerous actions, such as allelochemical functions between plants, and between plants and predators or in wound healing. Many monoterpenes possess antitumour activity in animal and cell models. They have also antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-protozoa properties. Another great reason to smell the leaves while among our Australian Bushland as monoterpentine is found in our eucalyptus forests.

taking care of our forests, especially our ancient forests is of utmost importance to everyone. not only because of the continued existence of the diverse plants, trees and animal species but also for your own continued good health.

*In an urban environment, sitting in an office all day, you're pretty much surrounded by your microbial cloud only. Step among the trees, though, and you'll swap microbe populations with all sorts of organisms. There are many types of trees that give off phytoncides these are pine, cedar, spruce or fir (studies done in Europe).

In Australia we have a lot of Eucalyptus forests and research shows that our Eucalyptus contains high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOC) many of which possess antiseptic properties. The major component found in Eucalyptus oil is the monoterpene ether 1,8-cineole, otherwise known as eucalyptol, which accounts for more than 70% of the oil mass and has been linked to antibacterial, antiinflammatory, and anticancer effects (Vuong et. al. 2015), though other VOC (i.e. a-pinene, terpinen-4-ol, and g-terpinene) are important contributors to health effects. You can read more about this HERE.

I hope that you enjoyed reading about some of the clinical benefits of Nature and Forest Bathing. Sometimes being armed with some good research and studies may support you to spend a little more of your life surrounded by the wonderful bushes and forests that are near you. Also, then supporting not only your continued good health but the continuation of protecting what is slowly being cut away by those who don’t understand the importance of what we are a part of.

Once again, we are not separate to nature, we are all a part of it, in a deeper way than most of us realise.

A quick look at some benefits of Nature and Forest Bathing:

Increase your NK (Natural Killer) Cells by breathing in Phytoncides from surrounding trees
Increase your intracellular anti-cancer proteins by breathing in Phytoncides
Decrease/suppress your stress hormones by breathing in Phytoncides
Supports a decrease in depression, anxiety, anger, fatigue, and confusion and better sleep
For more information on medical research you can find some great studies HERE . There are lots of links to a number of great studies to support the benefits of Nature and Forest Therapy via this link.
If you are really into research and studies there is this great link leading to studies that show the effects of lower deaths in Italy from COVID-19 where the region was densely populated with evergreen trees where the vegetation emits biogenic VOCs able to bolster human immune system.. You can read it HERE

*https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/beta-Pinene#section=Computed-Properties

*https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/alpha-Pinene

*https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-02-05/nature-park-forest-immune-system-inflammation-mental-health/9387714

*https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemical-engineering/monoterpenes