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Healing power

of nature

James T. Neill

University of Canberra

2019

Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

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Slides

Notes

http://bit.ly/HealingPowerNatureSlides

https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Healing_power_of_nature

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Overview

  • Activities
    • Sensory awareness inventory
    • Favourite place in nature
  • History
    • Indigenous
    • Industrialisation
    • Present
    • Future
  • Theory
    • Intersections
    • Psychoevolutionary theory
    • Biophilia hypothesis
    • Attention restoration theory
    • Stress reduction theory
  • Research
    • Natural scenes
    • Green space
    • Green exercise
    • Nature therapy
  • Summary
  • References

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Activities

  • Sensory awareness inventory
  • Favourite place in nature

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Sensory awareness inventory

Sight

Sound

Touch

Smell

Taste

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Favourite place in nature

  • Close your eyes
  • Take a deep breath in … and out
  • Imagine your favourite place in nature
  • See yourself visiting that place
  • What does it feel like?
  • When you’re ready, say goodbye and leave that place
  • Then open your eyes
  • Find a person near you and share about your favourite place

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History

  • Indigenous
  • Industrialisation
  • Present
  • Future

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Indigenous

  • Humans lived deeply in and with nature for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years
  • Thinking, feeling, and behaving was intimately connected to natural environments (land, air, water, plants, animals, weather, ecosystems)

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Industrialisation

  • 1000 - 10,000 years ago: Many indigenous cultures became agrarian (farming-based)
  • Present - 250 years ago: Many agrarian cultures became industrialised (manufacturing economy)

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Present

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Future

↑ Urbanisation

↑ Human population

↓ Natural environment

→ ↑ Nature deficit disorder?

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Theory

  • Intersections
  • Psychoevolutionary theory
  • Biophilia hypothesis
  • Attention restoration theory
  • Stress reduction theory

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Intersections

Psychology

Health

Environment

Nature-deficit disorder

Nature healing

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Psychoevolutionary theory

  • Humans evolved through close connection with nature.
  • The rapid, recent, and accelerating sociocultural transformation in lifestyle has been faster than genetic evolution

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Psychoevolutionary theory

  • Humans are “wild animals” living in “domesticated” environments
  • → Increasing prevalence of lifestyle physical health problems (such as obesity) and psychological health problems (such as stress and anxiety)

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Biophilia hypothesis

  • Due to their evolutionary history, humans have an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life
  • “innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes” (Wilson, 1984)

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Attention restoration theory

  • Cognitive
    • Directed attention (e.g., concentration) becomes fatigued
    • Non-direct attention is needed to allow directed attention to recover
  • Restorative environments engage non-direct attention

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Attention restoration theory

  • Restorative environment elements
    • Fascination: Awe generated by the environment attracts involuntary attention
    • Being away: Objective or subjective disconnection from fatiguing environment
    • Extent: Immersability/richness; i.e., perceived as a completely different place
    • Compatibility: Matches preferences and goals of person

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Stress reduction theory

  • Natural environments create physiological and affective calm and rapidly promote recovery from stress (Ulrich, 1983)
  • Levels of engagement: View, Visit, Interact

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Research

  • Natural scenes
  • Green space
  • Green exercise
  • Nature therapy

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Natural scenes

  • View through a window may influence recovery from surgery (Ulrich, 1984):
    • Less pain killers
    • Less negative comments from nurses
    • Less time in hospital
  • Lab and field studies indicate less negative affect and more positive affect

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Green space

  • “Vitamin G” = Density of parks, ovals, trees/plants, walkways, gardens, waterways, birds, animals, sanctuaries
  • % green space has a significant relation to physical and psychological health esp. for lower socioeconomic groups (Maas et al., 2006)

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Green exercise

  • Physical activity has health benefits
  • Natural environments have health benefits
  • → Physical activity in natural environments (green exercise) has physical and mental health benefits

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Green exercise

  • Even brief, low intensity green exercise is beneficial e.g.,
    • Walking
    • Gardening

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Nature therapy / Ecotherapy

  • Adventure therapy
  • Animal therapy (e.g., equine therapy)
  • Conservation therapy (e.g., mini-zoo keepers)
  • Forest bathing
  • Green prescription (GRx)
  • Horticultural therapy
  • Nature meditation

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Summary

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Summary

  • Human psychoevolutionary history means we are healthiest in resourceful natural environments, but increasing urbanisation and dwindling natural environment is causing increasing nature-deficit and lifestyle physical and health problems.

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Summary

  • Increased density of urban green space, biophilic design, and nature therapies offer ways to enhance human health on individual, local, regional, and global levels

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What is your nature exposure plan?

e.g.,

  • Pet
  • Garden
  • Green exercise e.g., daily walk
  • Indoor plant
  • Holiday

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References

  • Louv, R. (2008). Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Algonquin Books.
  • Maas, J., Verheij, R. A., Groenewegen, P. P., De Vries, S., & Spreeuwenberg, P. (2006). Green space, urbanity, and health: how strong is the relation] Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 60(7), 587–592. http://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2005.043125
  • Ulrich, R. S. (1984). View through a window may influence recovery. Science, 224(4647), 224–225. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.614340
  • Ulrich, R. S., Simons, R. F., Losito, B. D., Fiorito, E., Miles, M. A., & Zelson, M. (1991). Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 11(3), 201–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(05)80184-7
  • Wilson, E. O. (1984). Biophilia. Harvard University Press.