# Forest bathing: the new workplace wellness trend?

- **Episode:** [107](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/107.md) (2024-06-18)
- **Type:** news-roundup
- **Tags:** forest-bathing, wellness, workplace
- **Time:** 2:16–6:30 (start 136s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/107?t=136](https://truthliesandwork.com/107?t=136)

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[2:16] Leanne Elliott: I have a new term for you
[2:18] Al Elliott: I like a new term. Go on
[2:19] Leanne Elliott: Forest bathing
[2:20] Al Elliott: Oh yeah, oh yeah, this sounds a little bit new agey and a bit, um—
[2:25] Leanne Elliott: Woo
[2:25] Al Elliott: Woo is the word I was looking for. I was trying to think of it, think whether you're going to kick off me saying the word woo
[2:31] Leanne Elliott: No, well, he— well, apparently forest bathing is becoming a thing. It's a therapeutic method, if you've not heard of it before, of connecting with nature, and it basically involves immersing oneself in a forest setting to engage the senses fully Minus the distractions of our digital devices. Essentially, it's going for a walk in somewhere green
[2:52] Al Elliott: Yeah, I was about, I was about to call— oh shit, excuse me, sorry
[2:57] Leanne Elliott: Yeah, yeah, you don't have to get naked. Um, it's probably better if you don't unless it's specifically allowed in places. But if you're at a nudist beach, why not? In fact, I think you have to if you're at a nudist beach, don't you?
[3:08] Al Elliott: But if you're in the New Forest, perhaps, you know, around a children's play area, maybe keep, keep those pants on, perhaps?
[3:15] Leanne Elliott: Yes, maybe clothing is, is encouraged. Um, but research into forest bathing is also now becoming a thing, and it's growing. Um, and it is actually showing some significant health benefits. So I was reading an article, a 2018 meta-analysis. So a meta-analysis, that's when we take the data from lots of different studies and put it all together to have a massive sample, and then we analyse that. So it's like It's like the, the king of the studies, the meta-analysis. Yeah, but a meta-analysis highlighted that forest bathing reduced blood pressure, cortisol levels, which is our stress hormone, and heart rate amongst participants. So basically put us in a more calming state. More impressively, regularly engaging in activities like forest bathing decreased rates of diabetes, lowered cardiovascular disease, and overall mortality
[4:09] Al Elliott: I have a theory. It's because one, You don't have your phone with you, so that reduces your cortisol. And 2, there's not too many Greggs bakeries in the forest, so perhaps that's what's reducing your, your fat levels and your diabetes. Perhaps
[4:23] Leanne Elliott: You have just, just called out the old age argument. And when it comes to any type of human behavior research, are we talking about causation or correlation? And what you're suggesting there is we're talking about correlation. And in fact, the forest is not the cause of such health impacts, But we don't know this. Dr. Kirsten McCowan from the University of Derby does though. She actually said that she was initially, initially skeptical about the practice but has found compelling evidence of its benefits. Her research in the UK has shown that forest bathing can improve heart rate variability by 12%, potentially shifting individuals from high-risk category for cardiovascular disease to a low-risk category. So it seems as though spending some time amongst the trees might well be good For our health, investigation is going on. But theory suggests that that nature might be good for us. It's um, it's almost a bit daft really, isn't it? When you think about it, that it's like oh my goodness, maybe nature is actually where we're meant to be as a species, having done that for millions of years, and only just since the Industrial Revolution, what 150, 200 years ago, actually now live the life that we do. And arguably, with technology in the palm of our hands, only for the last 20 years, and it's a wonder. why we're struggling. Um, but that is the breakthrough. Apparently we need to go back to nature
[5:40] Al Elliott: That's what we've done for millennia. Well, not probably not millennia, but we've done for a very long time as a species is be outside. So yes, definitely everything in moderation, including forest bathing
[5:50] Leanne Elliott: Yeah, I mean, I think, I think you're right. I think this, this could be— is it, is it actually the walking that's helping? Is it the breathing more consistently that's helping? Is it our not having, you know, those constant dopamine spikes from our phone? There could be a whole lot of reasons, and I don't think it'd be a massive surprise to anybody that actually going outside and taking a walk is gonna be good for you. It's like your mum used to say, isn't it? Get outside, it'll do you some good. And she was usually right. And apparently, according to science, she was
[6:16] Al Elliott: Do you know what you should do? I've read, I read this story about this very clever couple, brother and sister, and what they did was when they went into a forest, they just dropped sweets on the ground so they could find their way back out
[6:25] Leanne Elliott: Such doofuses
[6:27] Al Elliott: So just a thought. I mean, I'm just— this is just life hacks. These are, these are life hacks