A LONG WALK IN A FOREST CAN QUICKLY BOOST YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM FOR DAYS
The obsession to “get your steps in” the last few years got a bit strident. And while that’s slacked off of late, the dialogue has focused more on not really needing so many steps. While I’m not saying walking isn’t important as general regular exercise goes, it appears that where you walk could be even more important. Folks who religiously take hikes in forests likely already know experientially. But now we literally know that a good, long walk in a forest can boost your health for days. Literally!
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A solid walk in a forest provides quality exercise, natural ambiance, and even solitude. That ambiance could variously include the senses’ invigoration from smells, sounds, or even a greater spiritual awareness. That could vary for everyone on any given day. But the benefits universal to us all are pretty amazing. Trees, besides being beautiful and varied, also themselves make and release into the air phytoncides. These special chemicals help trees to get rid of parasites, as well as fungal and bacterial infections. But we humans also get quite the boost from them as well, breathing them in for an hour or more.
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A LONG WALK IN A FOREST CAN FIGHT CANCER, VIRUSES AND LOWER STRESS HORMONES
So if you were to take a long walk in a forest, say for an hour or two, these phytoncides will prompt your body to boost the production of a special type of white blood cell, or “natural killer” cells. And these killer cells in turn will find and attack any cells in your body that are infected with a virus, and even tumor cells. And yes, you’re reading that right. A long walk in the forest will help you beat a cold and help fight cancer. And there’s more, as phytoncides can also tell your body to produce less stress hormones. And this one or two hour walk can give you this boost for days.
You can see more from an NIH paper here.
