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“Aromatic volatile substances” in the trees and in the soil they root in are the likely cause. In sum, regular hiking increases one’s NK count substantially.

Williams reports on a study evaluating the effects of walking in these same woody trails on our NK, “natural killer immune cells,” which cause tumors and virus-infected cells to self-destruct. Data on forest bathers shows their perambulations result in decreased cortisol levels, sympathetic nerve activity, blood pressure and heart rate. It sounds almost too simple, but walking in a woodsy environment does a lot more for you than walking among cement and glass. Every year hundreds of thousands of strollers walk 48 official leafy trails each year in pursuit of stress reduction and happier attitudes. Williams tries “forest bathing” in Japan, a practice promoted by the country’s Forestry Agency. the growing recognition of the environment on genes, and the growing academic and cultural unease with our widening breach from the outdoors.” “What was it about nature that people seem to need?” Increased clinical interest in the subject is traced to “a convergence of ideas and events: the relentless march of obesity, depression and anxiety. Like the scientists whose work she catalogs, she sets out to quantify what, exactly, has gone missing. Moving from the relative wilds of Boulder, Colo., where “the trails near our house were ribbons of delight,” to the urban-suburban matrix of Washington, D.C., Williams is soon lethargic and depressed. A contributing editor to Outside magazine, Williams herself reports exercising or relaxing outdoors just 17 times over the course of a year.Ī longtime journalist and author of the award-winning “Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History,” Williams’ most recent project is instigated by her own loss of nature. Respondents, she reports, are “rarely caught outside.” Ninety-three percent of the time, they are either indoors or in vehicles.

With tens of thousands of volunteers, Williams records her mood and activities twice a day. The extent to which we have become an enclosed people is revealed by a mob-sourced phone app project called Mappiness. It might seem like common sense, but evidently we need to take the idea more seriously. Reporting on an international roster of research, Williams explains that growing and green environments not only improve one’s mood, but slow down the aging process and support cognitive functioning on the highest order.