Wood Air Bathing

When we discuss what we miss about forests after they have been cut, it is usually the sight, or the shade, or the species, that we mention; but now I am breathing deeply of a forest gift that I had forgotten: the air! Americans have largely ignored this dimension of the forest's allure, but the Japanese recognize it and have a name for it: shinrin-yoku, wood-air bathing. Japanese researchers have discovered that when diabetic patients walk through the forest, their blood sugar drops to healthier levels. The Japanese have hosted whole symposiums on the benefits of wood-air bathing and walking. I have certainly noticed that I feel better after a walk in the woods; I just didn't know there was a name for my therapy.

So what could be in the forest air that makes us feel better? In a study done in the Sierra Nevadas of California, researchers found 120 different chemical compounds—but they could only identify seventy of them! We are literally breathing things we don't understand; which also means, of course, that when we lose these forests, we don't know what we are losing.

—Joan Maloof, Old Growth Air (Terrain.org, Winter/Spring 2004)

Comments

[Dan Trabue]

I find this entirely credible.

[Trailhead]

Fascinating. It's nice to have a name for the way I feel when walking through the woods.

[JLB]

Thank you for sharing this! It is incredibly similar to something I've been investigating called a "tree shower" in Japan... I believe that they may be much the same thing! The article comes in handy. :)

[Michelle]

"researchers found 120 different chemical compounds—but they could only identify seventy of them!"

One of so so so many reasons we humans should beware of our hubris to our peril in the way we gobble everything up and spit it out.