Top Quotes: “The Nature Fix” — Florence Williams
Background: I love nature! I’ve found that I do my best thinking, planning, and meditating while taking walks outside and I’ve had some of my most joyful moments on nature getaways. I also experience my favorite emotion — awe — almost solely due to natural experiences. This book is a compilation of tons of empirical research that proves that nature has a positive impact on one’s physical and mental health and even dives into topics I hadn’t considered, like the impact noise has on your stress levels and using nature as therapy (supplemented with examples from around the world). Ambitiously, it even goes as far to answer the questions of “Why is nature good for you?” and “Exactly how much nature time should the average person get?” If you aren’t much of a nature person, I bet this book could change your mind; if you already are, it will probably nudge you to prioritize nature time even more than you already do — that was certainly the case for me! *Please note* I don’t cite or provide a breadth of detail on the vast majority of the studies referenced here because that would take too long and this isn’t an academic paper or anything of that sort 🤓 The author of course does so and she makes a point to only include empirical studies with sound research methods that account for confounding variables, are statistically significant, etc.
Overview
“A study with three million participants where people recorded how happy they were feeling twice a day at random times found that people are significantly and substantially happier outdoors in all-green or natural habitat types than they are in urban environments, even when accounting for a vacation effect. It was a stronger difference in joy than being alone vs. being with friends, singing vs. not singing, or sports vs. not sports.”
“Yet the respondents were indoors or in vehicles 93% of the time. How we spend our days is how we spend our lives. Why don’t we do more of what makes our brains happy? People may avoid nearby nature because a chronic disconnection from nature causes them to underestimate its hedonic benefits.”
“American and British children spend half as much time outdoors as their parents did, including seven hours a day on screens, not including school.”
“Studies also show that natural environments make us healthier, more creative, more empathetic, and more apt to engage with the world and with each other.”
“Our nervous systems are built to resonate with set points derived from the natural world. Nature neurons are the essential link between our nervous systems and the natural world they evolved in.”
“We’re increasingly burdened by chronic ailments made worse by time spent indoors, from myopia [nearsightedness] and Vitamin D deficiency to obesity, depression, loneliness, anxiety, and more”
“In parts of East Asia, which suffers perhaps the greatest epidemic of indoor-itis, rates of nearsightedness in teenagers surpass 90%. Scientists used to attribute myopia to book reading, but it instead appears to be closely linked to time spent away from daylight. The sun primes the retina’s dopamine receptors and those in turn control the shape of the developing eye.”
“Researchers say they can prove that time in nature can make us less irritable, more sociable, less narcissistic, less distracted, and more cognitively nimble.”
“I would just read outside, usually walking, and when I couldn’t get out, I’d get surly. When my feet were moving, I would think about whatever I needed to think about and the farther I went, the more I would space out.”
“In nature’s absence, I felt disoriented, overwhelmed, depressed. My mind had trouble focusing. I couldn’t finish thoughts. I couldn’t make decisions and I wasn’t keen to get out of bed. I was perhaps suffering from ‘nature deficiency disorder’ (the DSM hasn’t added it, but presumably they’d want to treat it with a pill 😉).”
“Scientists are quantifying nature’s effects not only on our mood and well-being, but also on our ability to think — to remember things, to plan, to create, to daydream, and to focus — as well as on our social skills.”
“In 2008, more people throughout the world officially lived in urban than rural areas for the first time in human history. In 2016, cities grew faster than suburbs for the first time in 100 years. Yet as humans shift their activities to cities, astoundingly little planning, resources, and infrastructure go into making these spaces meet our psychological needs.”
“We think of nature as a luxury, not a necessity. We don’t recognize how much it elevates us, both personally and politically.”
Forest Bathing in Japan
“Shinrin yoku is the Japanese term for ‘forest bathing,’ which is standard preventative medicine in Japan. It involves cultivating your five senses to open them to the woods.”
“Japan’s Forestry Agency designated 48 official ‘Forest Therapy’ trails and devoted $4 million to forest bathing research. Some Japanese physicians are certified in forest medicine.”
“Rush hour in Tokyo is so crowded that white-gloved workers help shove people onto trains. Only 30% of meditation aspirants are fully adherent after a standard eight-week course, but pretty much any slouching screen fiend can spend time in a pocket of trees somewhere.”
“Because humans evolved in nature, it’s where we feel most comfortable, even if we don’t always know it.”
“Biophilia is the passionate love of life and of all that is alive; it is the wish for further growth, whether in a person, a plant, an idea, or a social group. It’s also described as the innately emotional affiliation of humans to other living organisms.”
“Our brains respond powerfully and innately to natural stimuli; our visual cortex picks up snake patterns more quickly than other patterns and snakes likely drove the evolution of our highly sensitive depth perception.”
“After our ancestors were chased by a lion, they had to get over it to be welcomed back to the tribe; peaceful and nurturing elements of nature helped us regain cognitive clarity, empathy, and hope.”
“Naturalistic outdoor environments are some of the only places where we engage all five senses and where our savanna-bred brains are ‘home.’”
“One-quarter of the Japanese population partakes in forest bathing, resulting in a 12% decrease in cortisol levels, a 7% decrease in sympathetic nerve activity, a 1% decrease in blood pressure, and a 6% decrease in heart rate.”
The Brain
“The demands and constant stimuli of modern life tend to trigger our fight or flight behaviors.”
“In a study, natural killer immune cells (NK cells) increased 40% by hiking three mornings in a row and the boost lasted for seven days; the participants’ NK count was still 15% higher a month later.”
“Nice tree smells are likely responsible for the NK cell boost and also increase the number of anti-cancer proteins and proteases that cause tumor cells to self-destruct.”
“Experts advise to go to a natural area at least one time per month, a park at least once a week, and to walk under trees in urban areas daily.”
“A Utah study found 50% improvement in creativity after just a few days in nature.”
“Directed attention is a limited resource that uses a lot of brainpower; filtering of attention requires fewer choices in nature.”
“The average American owns thousands of times more possessions than the average hunter-gatherer; we have more things to keep track of than our brains were designed to handle.”
“Our brains have an executive network (intellectual, task-focused) and a default network (daydreaming, goal setting, mind wandering). When the default network is activated, it allows the executive office to rest and rebuild at top performance.”
“Nature works selectively on the default network, engaging what’s good without allowing us to wallow too much in what’s problematic. When people walk in nature, they obsess over negative thoughts much less.”
“It doesn’t require intense concentration to walk across a landscape; it’s a speed our brains understand.”
“Soft fascination while watching a sunset or rain allows for brain resting.”
“Short sessions of nature image viewing allowed subjects’ brains to behave as if at least partially recovered.”
“There’s something about mystery that improves cognitive recall.”
Problem Solving with Nature
“The Korean Forestry Agency has employees known as ‘forest healing instructors.’ Forest bathing in South Korea is called salim yok — there will be 37 healing forests and most major towns will have access to one in the next two years.”
“The goal of Korea’s current National Forest Plan is to realize a ‘green welfare state’ where the entire nation enjoys well-being. It offers everything from prenatal classes in the woods to forest burial options. There’s even a ‘Happy Train’ that delivers bullies to a national forest for two days so they can learn to be nicer.”
“Trees in the U.S. remove 117.4 million tons of air pollution per year, providing $6.8 billion in human health benefits.”
“The closer you live to a high-traffic road, the higher your risk of autism, stroke, and cognitive decline in aging. Scientists suspect it has to do with fine particles causing tissue inflammation and altering gene expression in the brain’s immune cells.”
“Scientists have known for a long time that particulate matter from sources like diesel shorten life spans by causing cardiovascular and pulmonary problems. Black carbon — the tiny particles spewed out in exhaust and other combustion reactions like fires and cookstoves — is blamed for 2.1 million premature deaths per year around the world.”
“When electricity in the alpha wavelength dominates parts of the brain, it’s a sign you are not hassled by small distractions or problem solving. It’s the holy grail of brain states — the ‘calm alert’ zone.”
Sound
“Noise levels from human activities have been doubling about every 30 years, faster than population growth. Traffic on U.S. roads tripled from 1970 to 2003. The number of passenger flights is predicted to increase by 90% over the next 20 years.”
“The official word for human-made soundscape is the anthrophone. There are fewer than a dozen sites in the continental U.S. where you can’t hear human-made noise for at least 15 minutes. The quietest place in the [continental] country is in the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park.”
“Just because you don’t notice certain noises anymore doesn’t mean your brain isn’t responding to them. In a study, while sleeping through plane, traffic, and train noise, people’s sympathetic nervous systems reacted dramatically to the sounds, elevating their heart rates, blood pressure, and respiration.”
“There are no known examples of evolution driving vertebrate species to lose hearing — it’s our main ‘alerting’ and ‘orienting’ sense — it tells us something is out there and from which direction it’s coming.”
“Navy sonar can cause vibrations that blow whales’ heads off. Prey species can’t hear predators as well; research found that female gray tree frogs take longer to find mates who are calling to mate [because of human noise].”
“By birth, hearing is our most developed sense.”
“The World Health Organization attributes thousands of deaths per year in Europe to heart attack and stroke caused by high levels of background noise.”
“In a study, for every 5-decibel increase in noise, kids’ reading scores dropped the equivalent of a two month delay (adjusting for income and other factors).”
“Muir Woods instituted a quiet zone — no phones, soft voices, which doubled the listening area so you can hear birds 20 yards away instead of just 10 yards.”
“National Park visitors hearing loud vehicle noise rate parks as 38% less scenic than those who don’t hear it.”
“People rate urban settings as more attractive when they can hear birdsong.”
“Heart rate variability (HRV) recovery from being in nature can be set back with a carryover effect of about a minute by human noise. High variability is good, but when you’re stressed it can clench into a much narrower range, often causing stress-related heart problems.”
“The three nature sounds that are most soothing to humans are wind, water, and birds.”
“One’s favorite music and the voices of loved ones engage almost every part of the brain.”
“We associate birdsong with alertness and safety, a day when all is right with the world.”
“Birdsong is random and non-repeating so our brains interpret it not as a language but as a kind of background soundtrack. It has uncanny similarities to human-made music.”
“The brown thrasher can sing 2,000 songs. The Australian lyrebird is the world’s best mimic and can imitate chainsaws, car alarms, and the click of a camera shuttering.”
“Our brains are surprisingly similar to the parts of birds’ brains that hear, process, and make language. Humans share more genes governing speech with songbirds than primates. In both birds and humans, the ability to respond emotionally to linguistic and musical sounds became mission critical for mating, communication, and survival.”
“Birdsong improves mood and mental awareness. In a study, students listening to birdsong were more attentive after lunch than students who didn’t listen.”
“Experts recommend everyone listen to birdsong at least five minutes a day.”
“Seoul spent $300 million and rerouted an elevated highway to build a creek with water pumped in from a river — one of its main purposes was to create a soundscape to compete with the existing one of heavy traffic.”
Vision
“Florence Nightingale wrote, ‘Second only to the sicks’ need of fresh air is their need of light. Almost all patients lie with their faces turned to the light, exactly like plants.’”
“[In a study] patients with green views needed fewer post-op days in the hospital, requested fewer pain meds, and had better attitudes.”
“Nature views increase worker productivity, lower job stress, increase grades and test scores, and lower aggression — based on studies of ‘accidental nature’ that wasn’t sought out like a blot of green on the way to the laundry.”
“In an inner city Chicago study, those with asphalt views had higher levels of aggression and violence, procrastinated more, and viewed life challenges as more severe and long-lasting than those with tree views. They were also less able to control impulsive behavior, resist temptation, and delay gratification.”
“Analysis of a Chicago housing project found those with the most green views had 48% fewer property crimes and 56% less violent crimes than those with the least. The researcher thought it was because the prettier courtyards drew residents outside, where they got to know each other and could keep an eye out.”
“Subjects in rooms with potted plants were more generous to others when asked to distribute money.”
“The fractal dimension can lull us, engage us, awe us, and make us self-reflect. Our visual system is hard-wired to understand fractals — they’re how we analyze images with our eyes or how animals forage for food. Stress reduction is triggered when the fractal structure of the eye matches that of the fractal image being viewed.”
“Looking at an ocean might have a similar effect on us emotionally as listening to classical music, based on which parts of the brain are activated. Our brains recognize our kinship to the natural world, and they do it fast.”
“A study showed that real nature views helped with cognition and mood the most, with video views of nature helping a bit.”
“Humans prefer rounded contours to straight lines and rate brighter, more saturated colors as more pleasurable. Red and orange excite us; blues, greens, and purples relax us.”
“Color helps us spot and distinguish foods and notice things out of the ordinary. Red pops out at us because we have more cone cells dedicated to picking it up; in many cultures, red was the first color given a name after black and white.”
“Green and blue create the most calmness because predators tend not to be green or blue and we associate them with plants, water, and sky. These hues may instill feelings of universality and shared humanity since we all live under that sky.”
“Our eyes and brain work harder to decode urban scenes than nature.”
“The real difference between those with nearsightedness and those without it is the number of hours they spend outside. Sunlight stimulates the release of dopamine from the retina, which in turn appears to prevent the eyeball from growing too oblong.”
“Even on overcast days, outdoor light is ten times brighter than indoor light.”
Nature as National Identity in Finland
“For the Finnish, nature is about expressing a collective identity and pursuing cultural traditions like berry picking, mushrooming, fishing, lake swimming, and skiing.”
“The average Finn engages in nature-based recreation 2–3 times per week. On a regular basis, 58% of Finns go berry picking, 35% cross-country ski, 70% hike (compared to 30% in the rest of Europe and the U.S.), 50% ride bikes, 5% do long distance ice skating, and 95% regularly spend time in the outdoors.”
“Finland didn’t urbanize until the 1960s and 1970s. Before that, Finns were forest people. Nearly everyone has a grandparent living on or that owns a farm or woodlot; there are 2 million summer cottages in the country of 5 million.”
“Finland is Europe’s most forested country — 74% of the land is forest.”
“There is virtually no such thing as trespassing — anyone can traipse over anyone else’s land, even camping and making campfires. All that they can’t do is cut timber or hunt. (Meanwhile, in Montana, there’s a ‘my castle’ law where you have the legal right to shoot a trespasser dead.) The word for this policy means ‘you can walk forever’ in Finnish.”
“The biggest boosts in emotional and restorative experiences occurred after five hours in nature. The effects were slightly stronger in the wilder forest vs. a manicured park.”
“Those in nature felt more creative and felt stronger positive emotions and lower negative emotions. Just 15–45 minutes in a city park was enough to improve mood, vitality, and feelings of restoration.”
“To elevate mood and stave off depression, five hours per month in nature is the minimum; if you do 10, you’ll reach a new level of feeling better and better. Ten hours equates to 30 minutes 5 days a week or 2–3 full days.”
“The Finns are the most comfortable culture with long silences.”
“You won’t find majestic peaks and mountains in Finland — it’s forest and marshes.”
“60% of people in the world say their favorite place is a natural place.”
“Spa visits are a federal benefit for Finnish workers in need.”
“15–20% of people can’t relax in nature.”
“Social scientists talk about the novelty effect, in which things that are new and fresh make us feel good. This is why we like to travel and even fall in love serially.”
Fighting Inequality with Forest in Scotland
“Walking is the most popular sport in Scotland with them taking 2.2 million short walks and 1.8 million long walks per year. Day hikes are called rambling; the term ‘hiking’ is reserved for overnight treks and considered hippie.”
“Those who lived in greener neighborhoods (that had open, undeveloped land) had lower death rates adjusting for income. Cardiovascular deaths were 4–5% lower and lung cancer deaths were flat, which fit with [researchers’] hypothesis that lung cancer rates wouldn’t be associated with green space.”
“Income-related health disparities were greatest in the areas with the least green. Here, poor people were twice as likely to die as their rich neighbors. But there was something protective about the greenery for the most deprived people, either by providing more areas for exercise or otherwise buffering poverty-related stress. Inequality in mental well-being among those with the best access to recreational, green areas was 40% less than those with the most access.”
“Scotland is on a tree-planting and woodland-sprucing-up craze, aiming to increase the percentage of Scotland covered by woodland from 17% to 25%. Access to nature is a new national indicator for health in Scotland. Scotland’s Branching Out program helps people transition from institutions to living more independently — promoting exercise and increasing well-being, doing walking, arts, birding, and trail maintenance in the woods.”
“We once had a familiar relationship with nature; we knew it on first name basis. But now we need professionals to reacquaint us with the woods.”
“Over recent decades, we have come from dwelling in another world in which the living works of nature either predominated or were near at hand, to dwelling in an environment dominated by technology, which is wonderfully powerful and yet nonetheless dead.” (This quote is from 1960!)
“Nature appears to act directly upon our autonomic systems, calming us; it also works indirectly, through facilitating social contact and encouraging exercise.”
“The emerging European coda on public health: encourage people — especially distressed populations — to walk, often together, and provide safe, attractive, and naturalistic places for them to do it.”
Walking
“A French academic said, ‘walking is simply the best way to go more slowly than any other method that has ever been found.’”
“Rousseau wrote, ‘I commonly meditate when I’m walking. When I stop, I cease to think; my mind only works with my legs.”
“In the 1800s, the notion of walking as an expression of good breeding and good health was in full swing, but it also enabled an outlet of independence rare for a woman.”
“EEG brainwave monitoring requires the head to be stable, so we don’t know what the brain looks like while dancing.”
“Someone who lives in a city might be overjoyed and calmed down by a single tree, but others of us require a bigger hit. Nature was like caffeine or heroin. You keep wanting more.”
“A group that did a 30 minute walk on the phone scored the same on a memory test (30%) than those who hadn’t walked and those who had walked without talking averaged 80%.”
“Nature might boost our moods by quieting some brain circuiting governing self-wallowing.”
Wilderness
“One Anasazi clan held a monopoly on a recipe for oxidizing clay to make it red, guarding the secret and prospering in trade.”
“For something to be truly awe-inspiring, it must possess ‘vastness of extent’ as well as a degree of difficulty in our ability to make sense of it. That awe also inspires feelings of humility and a more outward perspective.”
“Awe is considered one of the core positive emotions; it is basically something that blows your mind. A deeply powerful, awe-inspiring experience can change someone’s perspective for a long time, even permanently.”
“In a study, those who experienced awe were 40% more generous than those who didn’t. Awe was the only emotion in another study that was positively correlated with healing wounds, fighting illness, lowering depression, and lowering stress. Why? Maybe because it causes us to reinforce social connections, which are known in turn to lower inflammation and stress. Awe wants to be shared.”
“Negative awe — like a tornado leveling your town — has a remarkable ability to spur people to help each other and unite a community toward common goals.”
“Awe promotes empathy and curiosity and makes you feel less time-pressured.”
Water
“John Muir said, ‘Between every two pine trees, there is a door leading to a new way of life.’”
“With PTSD, our brain’s innate sense of fear and our neocortex (the place we plan and puzzle and tell ourselves we’re being drama queens) remain in a tug of war and one can’t distinguish between a real and perceived threat.”
“Fear may be the reason we have memory — to remember near misses, narrowly avoided dangers, and attacks from predators and enemies.”
“Adventure sports like rafting provide a laser focus for an unfocused mind and a welcome distraction for unwelcome thoughts.”
“Anxiety is just excitement without breath — adrenaline can be healthy.”
“Veterans who spent six-day trips in the wild experienced a 9–19% improvement in mental health; the control group was unchanged. The trips fostered mentorships and, in turn, the willingness to ask for help, plus longer term group support.”
Childhood
“Outdoor adventure boarding schools posit that kids with ADHD thrive in the outdoors.”
“Most of our ancestors had brains that craved novelty and wanted to explore — [ultimately] resulting in humans plus pets and livestock accounting for 98% of the planet’s land vertebrates.”
“But evolution favored variability in our brains, and some of us pushed exploration more than others, or were simply more comfortable in the new, unfamiliar habitats. These are the sensation-seekers among us, the ones who thrive in dynamic environments and can respond quickly to new information.”
“Kids with ADHD hold clues to the adventure impulses lurking in all of us, impulses that are increasingly at risk in a world moving indoors, onto screens, and away from nature.”
“Exposure to nature reduced reported ADHD symptoms threefold compared with staying indoors. The right prefrontal cortex — the brain’s organizing, judging, task-focusing real estate — is known to be less active in children with ADHD. If nature allows it to recharge, it could boost attention in these kids.”
“When young rats were restricted from free exploration and play, their frontal lobes (which control executive function) failed to grow properly and as adults they behaved like rat-style sociopaths. ADHD drugs kill the exploration urge — they are anti-play drugs.”
“Frubel, the man who invented kindergarten, intended it to be filled with nature and art to instill a lifelong readiness to learn. He opposed formal lessons and didn’t even want alphabet blocks.”
“But in the late 1800s, educators saw the need to prepare children for an industrial work life. Kindergartens switched to more time indoors and the lessons become more programmatic.”
“But Frubel’s ideas persisted — to this day, European kids aren’t taught reading and math in earnest until age seven. Germany has over one thousand forest kindergartens that are growing in popularity across Northern Europe. Kids are out in all kinds of weather — playing with natural materials and pretty much having a ball. They do hazard assessment, not risk avoidance.”
“One-tenth of preschoolers in Scandinavia spend half of their days outside. In Finland, it’s common for students to be sent outside to play 15 minutes of every hour. Early social skills matter more than academic ones in predicting future success. In the U.S., preschoolers get 33 minutes outside per day, 30% of 3rd graders get less than 15 minutes of recess per day, and 39% of black students get no recess (compared to 15% of white students.).”
“Outdoor activities declined the most — 15% among 6–12 year olds — between 2006 and 2014.”
“70% of U.S. moms recalled they had played freely outside when they were kids, but only 31% allowed their children to do the same — despite a drop in crime since then. 80% of 7–8 year olds walked to school in 1971; by 1990, less than 10% did.”
“Preschoolers are the fastest growing market for antidepressants in the U.S. Teenagers have 5–8 times more anxiety and depression than young people born in the 1950s did. The U.S. suicide rate’s steepest rise is among girls 10–14 years old — up 200%!”
“Two-thirds of American children are Vitamin D deficient. We need sunlight to regulate sleep, grow our bones, and boost immunity.”
“The exercise gap between boys and girls narrows when you put them in nature.”
“Kids with ADHD are better wired for innovation than the rest of us, but their brains are itching to be molded by environmental experience.”
Gardens
“Urban living is associated with the fear and stress centers of the brain.”
“Singapore is considered the top ‘biophilic city’ in the world. Massive deforestation left it barren of nutrients, so its trees and shrubs are grown on imported soil. The country spends $200 million a year to develop scenery, 0.6% of the national budget. This is five times the share of the U.S. National Park Service budget.”
“Creating a ‘city in a garden’ was meant to distinguish Singapore from other developing countries. Half of it is under some sort of green cover. When new development goes in, the building must more than replace the nature it displaced — through green roofs, gardens, etc. — that the government helps fund.”
“Between 1986 and 2007, Singapore’s population increased by two million, but its percent of green space grew from 36% to 47%. 70% of people live within 400 meters of a green space and they’re aiming to bring that up to 80%.”
“Fans can write emails to trees in Melbourne and park crew sometimes write back.”
The Nature Pyramid
“Tim Beatley created a nature pyramid with daily interactions in our area at the bottom, then weekly outings to parks, then monthly excursions to forests or other escapist natural areas, and finally wilderness, which we need yearly or biyearly in intense multi-day bursts. These trips can rearrange our very core, catalyzing our hopes and dreams, filling us with awe and human connection, and offering a reassurance of our place in the universe.”
“The more we recognize these innate human needs, the more we stand to gain.”
“There may be particular times when wilderness experience can be the most helpful to us, like adolescence or following grief or trauma.”
