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The benefits of nature for our wellbeing

We keep seeing in the media reports on the benefits of nature and being outdoors for us, for our physical and mental wellbeing. People often tell you to go for a walk if you have a problem or that they feel better when they are in nature, but we never really ask why or even if it’s true. So, I decided to find out more about the history and science behind this idea and enjoyed reading this book by Annabel Streets, 52 Ways to Walk (Bloomsbury Press), where she explores the magic of nature and how it can soothe us and. Of course, it’s also important for us all to take care of nature, as we are part of it.

First of all, let’s see what she has to say about some of the benefits of nature for us:

Walking among trees in nature:

Plants produce compounds to protect themselves that are called phytoncides. Their effect on humans is that they make us feel better. In a study of 290,000 people in 20 countries, they found that spending time in green spaces had many benefits including a reduced risk of type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, early death, high blood pressure and stress.

A Finnish study shows that adults (especially middle-aged women) noticed an improvement in their well-being after returning from a walk in the forest. Also, their cortisol level, which is a marker of stress, lowered. And 22 studies support these results.

In Japan they have been practising Shinrin-Yoku, or forest bathing, for decades, which, in addition to the other benefits, reduces heart rate and inflammation, and increases immunity.

Why does it have this effect on us? Well, it seems that there is a type of very powerful phytoncides, terpenes, which are produced in the trunks, leaves, roots and stems of plants.

One type is D-limonene, which is more effective than antidepressants at improving mood in people with depression.

Walking through the forest also improves our microbiota. Finnish scientists planted forest plants in school and kindergarten playgrounds and children played there for 1.5 hours every day from Monday to Friday. They tested the microbes on the children’s skin and intestines and compared them with children in normal schools. After 4 weeks, the children in the control group had much more diversity in their microbiota, but also, there was a parallel improvement in their immune system.

Walking in nature in the cold

We associate winter with spending more time at home because of the cold. But, we have been using the cold to heal ourselves for centuries. The Egyptians used cold water to reduce inflammation, British monks used ice as an anaesthetic, and an English doctor, James Arnott, used a mixture of ice and salt to relieve headaches or cancer tumours. Then in 2000 Japanese researchers asked a group of women to go for a walk in the cold in a miniskirt for a year and another group of women to go for a walk in an ankle-length skirt. The miniskirt group developed a new thin layer of fat on their legs. Until now it had been believed that only hibernating animals and babies had this layer. About 10 years later, American researchers discovered that this layer is brown fat or BAT (brown adipose tissue), a type of cold-inducing fat.

BAT is not harmful, on the contrary, it burns fat better than anything else, even muscle tissue. This explains how more active people have more brown fat than more sedentary people. Additionally, our cells are full of mitochondria, which convert the food we eat and the oxygen we breathe into a type of energy, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which supports every cellular process in our bodies.

Brown fat serves to keep us warm and breathing. If we experience cold suddenly, it serves to increase our metabolism, regulate our appetite and improve our insulin sensitivity, which prevents the premature death of our cells. Simply put, brown fat makes our bodies repair themselves better. People with more brown fat are less likely to suffer from hypertension, congestive heart failure, and coronary artery disease.

The cold also helps keep our brains in good condition. We think more clearly when it’s cold. Our brains use glucose, so when we have less glucose, the brain works slower. We use more glucose when we cool down and less when we warm up, which explains why we feel slower in hot weather and more alert in cold weather. Israeli researchers have even discovered that simply looking at images of winter landscapes allows our brains to function more rigorously.

What’s more, the cold is good for our mental health. Polish researchers discovered that after spending 15 minutes in a cold, leafless forest, a group of students felt quite revitalizing, emotional and restorative effects. In 2018, researchers in Luxembourg continuously applied cold to the necks of volunteers. It activated their parasympathetic (calming) nervous system, which had the effect of reducing or stabilising the speed of their heart rate, or rather, reduced their stress levels.

In addition to the beauty of autumn and winter, we become more resilient, because in the cold our hearts don’t have to work as hard and we sweat less, which means our bodies work more efficiently.

It is recommended that a 2-hour walk in the cold is enough to convert white fat into brown fat. And don’t worry if you hate the cold. Many studies show that the cold becomes less intimidating the more you are exposed to it. It’s called ‘habituation’. It is recommended to wear more layers of clothing and take longer and longer outings to get used to it. And the brown fat begins to activate at 16ºC.

More and more studies show that more activity in the cold helps reduce allergic inflammation in the airways and relieve respiratory symptoms in adults, which is good news for allergy and asthma sufferers. 

It is believed that caffeine also activates brown fat, so we could also pack a thermos with a hot drink. 

Walking in nature with your eyes

In the 90s, Dr. Francine Shapiro noticed as a result of going for a walk, that scanning the landscape with your eyes makes you feel calmer and less anxious. As a result, she came up with a treatment for trauma, EMDR, in which a therapist uses hand movements to make a person move their eyes, which makes it easier to heal the trauma. And it is that eye movement which we do naturally when going for a walk out in nature.

This looking forward is called a ‘panoramic vision’, because we absorb the entire scene we see. It’s like an optical flow that tells us where we are going and the best way to navigate. Our retinas have miniature brain cells that calm anxiety and fear while we use a panoramic vision. Optical flow calms the amygdala, the brain’s threat detector, which helps us to calm down.

Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman believes that, as hunter-gatherers, the brain evolved to navigate and search for water and animals calmly, switching to a focal vision (which is more demanding and more stressful) only if necessary. Of course, today we use focal vision more in many of our daily tasks, depriving our eyes and brains of the panoramas that our ancestors enjoyed.

Therefore, we have to walk with your eyes, thereby using the brain cells in the back of the retinas more. Whether following a new route or a familiar route, it helps to pay attention to the entire scene and our entire environment. If we turn off our phones and lift our heads up we will notice more things, the weather, the flora, the fauna or the architecture. Looking at the landscape with a horizontal circular movement induces a feeling of calm. It’s also important to take care of your peripheral vision, because it decreases with age if we do not use it, and walking in nature helps restore it.

Walking in nature within the first hour of waking up

Harriet Martineau, the sociologist and social activist, would get up and go for a walk just as the sun rose each morning, she said, to prepare her brain for work. And science backs it up, because the best time to go for a walk is within the first hour after you wake up.

It turns out that light works as the main timekeeper for every cell in our bodies. And if we are exposed to this light within the first hour after waking up, each cell can set itself properly. We don’t need to expose ourselves to many hours of light, a walk of about 10 minutes and without sunglasses is enough. We don’t even need very bright light, because the light of a cloudy day is better than indoor light since it has many more lumens (the measure of light intensity).

Our sensitivity to light is lowest when we wake up, which is why the brain needs a burst of light to alert it and to adjust our circadian rhythms for the day. The morning light tells the neurons behind the eyes that it is time to get going so that the level of serotonin (the hormone that helps us sleep) is reduced. It also floods the body with cortisol, which wakes us up and stimulates us.

Morning light also causes the body to produce serotonin, which makes us feel good, regulates our sleep, and is later converted into melatonin to help us sleep.

Additionally, an early morning walk can protect our cardiovascular health by stimulating a gene that strengthens blood vessels and reduces the risk of a heart attack. For this reason, they occur more during winter. In one study, volunteers were exposed to 30 minutes of natural light between 8:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. each day for 5 days. At the end, they had elevated levels of the protein PER2, which adjusts the circadian rhythm, improves metabolism and strengthens blood vessels.

A study in 2012 showed that women who walked briskly for 45 minutes at 8:00 a.m. were more active during the rest of the day and were less hungry. It is believed that exercise raises our body temperature and as a result, hypothalamic neurons are activated, which help us regulate food intake. Another hypothesis is that it happens due to a hormone (GDF15), which also suppresses appetite when exercising.

There are more reasons to walk when you wake up, there is less pollution first thing in the morning, plants emit more negative ions between 9:00 and 10:00 (which lifts our mood), and we hear more birdsong (which is shown to cheer people up for up to 4 hours).

Walking in nature at night

In 1994 there was an earthquake in Los Angeles and the power went out. There were many calls to the emergency services to warn of a huge, alien-looking silver cloud in the sky, but it turned out to be the Milky Way. It turns out that these people had never seen it because the light pollution of the city made it impossible to see it.

At around the same time, a group of friends in Australia decided to walk in the outback at night to exercise because they didn’t have time during the day. But they soon discovered that what affected them most about going walking was not the improvement in their physical condition, but how it reconnected them with nature, the silence and the velvet darkness of the night.

Today up to 99% of Americans and Europeans live below the skies where the Milky Way can barely be seen due to light pollution. Some people never manage to adjust their vision to night vision mode.

However, light is a fundamental human need. Research shows that its deficiency could be linked to depression, insomnia, obesity, reduced immunity and heart disease. Being exposed to light at night affects circadian and neuroendocrine physiology, potentially accelerating tumour growth. Israeli scientists have shown that where there is more light pollution, there are more cases of breast cancer.

Even low levels of nighttime light can reduce brain plasticity and interfere with the normal structure of brain cells.

It is believed to inhibit the production of melatonin, the hormone that helps us sleep. Walking outdoors at night helps us sleep because it acts on our homeostatic sleep drive. It helps to recalibrate our internal clock according to the light and dark cycles which we have lived with for millennia.

Walking at night has risks. It is best to choose a flat route and avoid a wet night to avoid slipping. You can see more in a clear place without trees. The first time you go out it is better to take a known route, which you have already done during the day, and leave just before nightfall to let your eyes get used to the dark. If you go out at night, sit in the dark for 20 minutes before you start to let your eyes adjust. It is recommended to take the same round trip route to have references on the way back when it is very dark.

And finally, some practical advice. Bring a headlamp with red light, and a light dimmer to keep your hands free. But only use it if necessary, the idea is to let your eyes get used to the darkness. There are special binoculars to see the sky at night. Carry a trekking stick to prevent falls, a thermos with a hot drink or water and charge your mobile phone. To see more wildlife, it is best to go out with a small group. Sound moves over a greater distance at night so you can hear more animals. And finally, go slowly, this walk is for enjoying what you experience, so there’s no hurry. In Spain, here is more information on astro tourism.

Walking in nature with your ears

The author, Johanna Spiri, described how Heidi missed the healing sounds of the mountains when she moved to the city. And now there are researchers who see that in-patients in hospitals who listen to natural sounds have reduced anxiety. The sound of running water lowers cortisol levels more effectively than silence or classical music. So, a walk in nature with our ears, listening to natural sounds, can be very beneficial.

Other researchers exposed 17 healthy young people to different natural and artificial sounds to see how they would be affected. Starting in a relaxed state (baseline neural activity), they heard the sound of rolling waves, and their brains switched to outward-directed focus of attention. While listening to the sound of traffic, their brains shifted to inward-directed focus of attention, which is similar to the state in which we suffer from anxiety, depression or trauma. Additionally, the sound of rolling waves affected their bodies, reducing heart rate, relaxing muscles, and stimulating gentle activity in the intestines and glands, indicating that the body was returning to a state of relaxation. Finally, it was noted that when listening to natural sounds, participants performed better on tasks that required their full attention, suggesting that listening to running water while walking can improve our problem-solving skills. Those with more stress relaxed more when listening to natural sounds.

The WHO believes that traffic noise causes the loss of 1 million years of healthy lives. Numerous studies show that there is an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, heart attack and heart disease. It can cause a spike in stress, resulting in swollen blood vessels, which increases the risk of stroke. Pupils in schools near large airports suffer from poorer comprehension, memory and literacy skills. Noise affects pulse, heart rate and blood pressure, even during the deepest sleep.

So, we can go for a walk and listen to the natural sounds of the environment. According to the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest and Natural Beauty in the UK, the following sounds give us the most pleasure: birdsong, a running stream, rustling tree leaves, silence, twigs breaking underfoot, animal noises, wind whistling through the trees, rain falling on leaves, chestnuts falling to the ground, and squishing in mud. It also says that 30% of people who listen to natural sounds notice an increase in their state of relaxation, while those who listen to a guided voice on a meditation app do not notice any change. It is not enough to listen to natural sounds indoors, you need to go outside.

The most effective way to walk and listen is to surrender to the experience and let your ears guide you, for example, following the sound of an insect or a bird. The weather changes our routes, for example if there is drought, rain, wind or snow, and night sounds are different too. The important thing is to walk with our focus of attention directed outward, not inward.

Walking nature in the sunshine

The Danish scientist and heliotherapist Niels Ryberg Finsen realised that the sun had an important impact on his health after seeing how cats were attracted to lying in the sun. In 1903 he won the Nobel Prize for light-therapy work. Soon after, 36 heliotherapy centres were opened in the Alps and having a tan became fashionable.

Nowadays, as we spend most of our time indoors, up to 70% of people are believed to have a vitamin D deficiency. It is created when UVB rays hit our skin and goes to our liver and then to our kidneys to become a hormone called calcidiol 25(OH)D3, and lasts up to 3 weeks. So, our bodies need constant sunshine to keep our serum levels stable. It’s recommended to have between five and 30 minutes of light on your face, neck and arms every day depending on your skin type and UV index.

It was noticed during Covid that low levels of vitamin D were linked to poorer recovery and that it is needed for good functioning of our innate immune system, the defence system which allows us to deal with germs, allergens and fends off many viruses. Whereas, our acquired immunity system develops as we’re exposed to pathogens, triggering the production of antibodies (making vaccines work).

A deficiency of sunshine (not vitamin D) has also been linked to heart disease, hypertension, osteoporosis, several cancers, depression, dementia and multiple autoimmune diseases. A Swedish study found that a lack of sunlight could be as dangerous as smoking.

Researchers believe that photons from sunlight activate our T-cells, vital components of our immune system, by mobilising nitric oxide from our skin and transferring it to our circulatory system. Our skin carries twice as many T-cells as our blood. The blue light in sunshine reaches the surface of our skin and the dermis underneath, enabling rapid activation of the T-cells there.

Sunlight also has an important role in setting our circadian rhythms and moderating our production of melatonin, helping us to wake and sleep. 

So, sunshine has important effects unrelated to vitamin D, suggesting that taking supplements as a substitute isn’t enough. However, scientists continue to debate how far to depend on just one or the other. One suggestion is to take short walks with your face, neck and arms exposed without sunscreen, building up with gradually longer exposure. British heliotherapist, Henry Gauvin, said sunlight is ‘like a good champagne. It invigorates and stimulates; indulged in to excess, it intoxicates and poisons.’ 

Walking in the sunshine also triggers the feel-good hormone, serotonin, making us feel better!

Walking in nature in the rain

In Uganda, male chimpanzees do ‘rain dances’ and no one knows why, but it reminds us of the intoxicating possibilities of rain. When we walk in the rain we are literally ‘touched’ by nature. It’s a very enriching experience which awakens our sense of touch and reminds us that we are embodied beings. 

The pounding of rain drops and the increased moisture cause compounds to be released and combined in the air we breathe, and inhaling them can have a profound impact on our well-being.

Our sense of smell is also awakened. Rain releases scents from trees, plants and soil, imbuing the landscape with complex fragrances.The fragrances come from compounds created and released by a group of oils which plants secrete to prevent them growing too fast in dry weather. The pungent ‘earth-after-rain’ scent is known as ‘petrichor’. In India this scent has been bottled as perfume, known as ‘mitti attar’ or ‘perfume of the earth’, for 50 years.

Scientists think other fragrances are produced as rain disturbs and shifts odoriferous molecules from different surfaces, including the tiny hairs on leaves that produce clean and astringent scents, which, when combined with earthy scents, create a relaxing fragrance. Stone and concrete in cities also produce scents when it rains, though not as pleasing as those in nature.

Rain washes away the last traces of pollution, and the air is cleaner during and just after a downpour. When rain falls each drop attracts hundreds of pollutant particles, including soot, and microscopic particles measuring 2.5 microns or less in diameter (PM2.5), making the air extremely fresh.

Rain also increases the negative-ion count in the air, which some scientists think can improve cognition, relaxation and mood. Studies suggest that negative ions (molecules which carry an extra charge and are found in abundance in forests and moving water) improve health, cognitive performance and longevity.

Rain mostly changes what and how we see. During a rainy walk, tree trunks glitter, leaves sparkle and petals glisten. Rain makes foliage and flowers translucent so that every vein and marking becomes visible. Flowers, boughs and feathered grasses shift shape, their heads arch and bow beneath the weight of water. A well-known walk becomes a very different experience stimulating our brain with a surge of dopamine.

One study suggests that we burn more calories when we do exercise in the rain. The scientists tested people’s blood and exhaled breath and found that ‘Minute ventilation, oxygen consumption and levels of plasma lactate and norepinephrine were significantly higher in the rain’ meaning that we have to work harder (using more calories) when it’s cold and wet. 

Now let’s see what she has to say about the benefits of doing activities and being outdoors in nature. 

Being in nature in a group:

For centuries Welsh farmers, called Drovers, took their animals to the London markets every year (almost 300 km). Along the way they were accompanied by people who wanted to travel safely to London or somewhere along the way. They ensured safety and company.

There has always been a connection between walking and talking. Humans developed communication to be able to go hunting and find better food. It’s like it’s part of our DNA. That’s why walking groups work better in natural environments than in urban areas.

Anthropologists call ‘walking together’ a ‘deeply sociable activity’. It stimulates conversation, fosters relationships and strengthens friendships. Its slow pace makes it incomparably cozy.

Walking together triggers a torrent of feel-good chemicals, neurotransmitters like dopamine or oxytocin, which protect us. There are many recent studies which show that good social connections give us better physical, mental and cognitive health, as well as a longer life.

Some benefits of walking groups are: weight loss, a lower BMI (body mass index), lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol.

Interestingly, in walking groups there is a lower dropout rate than in other groups.

But the most impressive effect is on mental health. Among the people who participate often, it reduces their stress and depression. Also, they feel more satisfaction because they experience social connection, acceptance, security and a sense of belonging. It is easier to share and exchange personal information, ideas and reflections if we walk with a relaxed intimacy, at a slow pace and adapted to everyone, with coordinated movement and without the need to look each other in the eyes all the time.

There are fluctuations in the rhythm of the group, which create a ‘brief sociability’, and which is what makes it so therapeutic. We change partners or conversations, talking or even walking in synchronized silence.

We also experience the walk with all our senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell. Sharing it creates a stronger bond between the participants and also with the landscape.

Smiling at others when out in nature:

Going for a walk exposes us to the opportunity to meet other people. Greeting others with a smile, whether neighbours or strangers, improves our sense of well-being, in our bodies and in our minds, ensuring that we return home happy instead of irritable, and friendly instead of grumpy. There’s no need to say anything, a smile is enough.

Psychologists speculated that smiling could improve our mood, even a forced smile, but they didn’t know why. And studies show that by practising smiling you can trick your brain into feeling more cheerful. The brain is stimulated and releases neurotransmitters that make us feel more positive. We may even notice that the people around us are happier. It works like a waterfall of positivity. You see the world from another perspective.

Forcing a smile may take some practice and seem difficult at first, but if we think of it more as activating a smile, with repetition and over time it becomes a natural habit. Thus, human exchanges improve our sense of well-being.

Smiling at others while walking also creates a more united and functional community. And study after study shows the importance of community in improving our well-being.

Meditating in nature

It is known that meditation is good for physical and mental health. It helps fight stress, anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, insomnia, inflammation, and reduced immunity. In a study with nurses, it even helped improve their empathy levels. At a molecular level, it appears to turn on some useful cells and turn off other harmful cells. In addition, it changes the composition of the brain, strengthens the frontal cortex (the planning and decision-making area), enlarges the hippocampus (the memory storage area), and shrinks the amygdala (the area related to fear and anxiety). People who meditate more often have denser gray matter, an indicator of intelligence. Between 15 and 20 minutes of daily meditation can expand critical areas of the brain, after just a couple of months of practice.

There are monks who meditate while walking outdoors. There is no need to sit or lie down. Walking meditation combines the benefits of meditation, movement and the outdoors. Walking was one of the Buddha’s 4 favourite postures to practise ‘mindfulness’, achieving calm, clarity and joy.

It seems that walking meditation provides more benefits than simply walking. It reduces levels of cortisol, LDL cholesterol, and a protein involved in inflammation and depression. Older women who meditate walking have better coordination and balance.

How is it done? A 30-minute walk is recommended in a private and simple place, without obstacles or distractions (so you can focus on your feet) and with a space ahead of about 3 to 6 metres. Meditating walking follows the rhythm of your footsteps, not your breathing.

Close your eyes and take some slow, deep breaths before walking. Focus on the soles of your feet and the sensation of the contact with the ground. Then your focus moves to the rest of your body, slowly rising to the top of your head before returning down to the soles of your feet.

Open your eyes and start walking, focusing on how you lift your feet and how you step, and also on how you move your arms. You have to notice how your body feels when you move. If you are distracted by something, go back to thinking about how you walk and the contact of your feet with the ground. Recognise what you notice from your senses, what you hear, see, feel, taste and smell, always returning to what your footsteps are like.

There is no right way to walk. Go at your own pace and use your own way of walking. The important thing is your connection with the here and now. It can be done at any time during a walk, at the beginning, in the middle or at the end, and it only takes a few minutes.

Walking with a better gait in nature

Walking is an act of huge complexity, involving almost all the bones and muscles in our bodies, our balance, coordination and our strength, while firing hundreds of neurons. No machine has been able to replicate how we synchronise our muscles and bones in the act of walking.

Modern life means that our gait has worsened caused in part by sitting so much or using inappropriate footwear. Our feet hit the ground with a passive foot strike or a flat plod, rather than with an active foot strike or a springy rolling sole, which can cause our pelvis to misalign and affect our posture. Research shows that walking with a full range of motion for a month can improve our skeletal alignment and increase our walking speed.

Sports scientist Joanna Hall recommends:

 – Pushing off from the back foot, using the muscles at the back of the legs.

 – Peeling through each foot from heel to toe, using all of our toes to drive us forward.

 – Lifting our ribs and lower spine to activate our abdominal muscles and create space in our core.

 – Lengthening and straightening our neck, which frees our spine to move as we walk.

 – Swinging our arms freely but smoothly from the shoulders, using our elbows to impel us forward and loose hands.

Medics at Harvard Medical School recommend additional techniques:

 – looking 3 to 6 metres in front of you and lowering your eyes (rather than your head) when you need to check the ground. 

 – Swivelling the hips slightly to add power to your stride.

 – Taking care not to overstretch your stride, with shorter steps but more of them.

Brisk walking (6-7km per hour) brings extra benefits. A study in 2019 showed that brisk walkers live longer. In fact, all our daily required exercise can be accommodated in our trips to work, school or to the shops.

A good gait means we can also walk further. Longer walks can reduce body fat and improve mood. Here are some other tips for walking with a new gait:

 – You can ask a friend to check your new gait and suggest improvements, or take a video of yourself.

 – Invest in some good footwear.

 – Wear a backpack or bumbag to help with correct alignment, instead of a bag.

 – Use hiking poles adjusted to your height.

Walking like a nomad in nature

French researcher Édouard Stiegler came across nomads in Kabul in 1980 who had walked 700 km in 12 days, crossing mountains and deserts. He wanted to understand how they had been able to walk 60km a day, apparently without signs of fatigue. He deduced that they used a breath-oriented way of walking, which consisted of a conscious walking technique that involves synchronising your breathing with your steps (light and at a moderate pace). He returned to France and developed a walking technique that he called the ‘Afghan walk’.

Nowadays it is called ‘the breath-aware walk’ or ‘the yogic walk’. It is more beneficial in endurance walking (in the mountains or on long routes). It is almost meditative because it relieves stress and anxiety due to the focus on rhythm and breathing.

The theory is this, that efficient breathing allows the body to adequately oxygenate itself, allowing us to walk further and without getting too tired. When we walk in rhythm with our breath or breathe in rhythm with our steps, we lengthen and slow down our breathing. Combined with good posture, rhythmic breathing makes difficult climbs and long routes less exhausting.

Afghan walking is not difficult but benefits from some practice. You have to breathe through your nose, to the rhythm of your steps. Then it’s a matter of experimenting with the pace that suits your stride, the terrain, and your fitness level. It is recommended to inhale through the nose for 3 steps, hold your breath for one step, and exhale through the nose for 3 steps. The 3-1:3-1 pattern is the basic technique of the Afghan march. To go uphill, the 2-2 pattern is recommended (without holding your breath). Each person will find their own rhythm; the important thing is to synchronise your breathing and steps.

A recent study from the University of California in the US found that mindful movement can outperform conventional physical exercise with respect to quality of life, mood, and cognitive functioning. In James Nestor’s book, ‘Breathing, the New Science of the Lost Art’, he talks about the benefits of breathing well (including during the Afghan march), which include: lowered blood pressure, improved immunity, denser bones and improved sleep.

Breathing through your nose in nature

The German philosopher, Kant, walked every morning at 05:00 and developed a technique of breathing through his nose 250 years before scientists discovered its benefits.

When breathing through the nose, processes occur that filter airborne pathogens, allergens and other undesirable things. The nasal cavities produce nitrogen oxide which increases blood flow through the lungs, amplifying the amount of oxygen in the blood. By breathing through the mouth, we bypass this filter and deprive the cells of the additional oxygen that breathing through the nose offers.

In the lungs, nitrogen oxide blocks respiratory infections and stimulates the flow of oxygen through the body. It helps prevent high blood pressure and blood clots and pushes blood to vital tissues and organs. It maintains immunity by keeping the nervous system healthy and slowing down the cellular ageing process.

Speculation during Covid and the SARS outbreak that inhaling nitrogen oxide through the nose can slow the spread of viruses in the lungs has been confirmed. People who breathe through their mouths are more likely to suffer from heart disease, fatigue, inflammation, headaches, stress, halitosis or tooth decay.

Another study shows that breathing through the nose improves overall health and fitness. We tend to breathe more slowly through our nose, which gives oxygen more time to enter the bloodstream, and helps activate the parts of the nervous system that support recovery. It reduces high blood pressure, helps with sleep, facilitates digestion and builds bone. Combining breathing through the nose and movement improves endurance and reduces subsequent fatigue.

How is it done? As you walk, close your mouth and relax your jaw, tongue, and face. Inhale slowly through your nose and exhale through your nose or mouth. Lengthen your neck and open your chest and shoulders to perfect the technique. It’s harder the faster you walk. The ideal breathing rate is slow and deep, inhaling for 5.5 seconds and then exhaling for 5.5 seconds, which is 5.5 breaths per minute. Some recommendations include:

a). Humming while walking produces 15 times more nitrogen oxide.

b). Enjoying all the smells and aromas even more as you walk and breathe through your nose.

As we can see, spending time in nature is valuable for our physical and mental wellbeing so we should all be trying to get out more, if only for 30 minutes a day in a local park. In some countries GPs are being trained to prescribe nature so that patients can combine their other treatments with some outdoor activity. Some therapists who use nature in their work see it as their ‘co-therapist’, a fundamental partner in their clients’ processes. I hope you get some time to benefit from nature outdoors soon. 

Source: 52 Ways to Walk by Annabel Streets (Bloomsbury Publishing)

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