Healing Effects of Nature

Science has recently discovered that being in natural green settings can reduce anger, stress, and aggressiveness. By releasing all of that, it increases happiness. Many studies show improvement in anger, stress, and aggressiveness and recoveries from stressful situations along with blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and the level of "stress hormones" occur quickly when in a natural environment. The article also states, “Forest visits may also strengthen our immune system by increasing the activity and number of natural killer cells that destroy cancer cells.” It also has an effect on children, because ADHD symptoms decrease in children when they play in green, natural environments.

This is important because many people suffer from stress and depression, and it is important for people to know that taking a visit to the forest or natural green environment can help decrease stress, anger, aggressiveness, and even ADHD and amazingly replace it with happiness. Besides helping us emotional, it also provides us with other good health because the most commonly prescribed drugs obtain substances that came from natural environments. As the article stated, an example of a drug would be ‘Taxol.’ It is used against ovarian and breast cancer, and is produced by yew trees.

Source: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. "The Healing Effects of Forests." ScienceDaily 26 July 2010. 25 August 2010 .