Ep. 1: Your Mind on Nature
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Take a hike! We mean that in a nice way, seriously. This week we’re talking about the effect of the great outdoors on our brains. Research has shown that being in nature helps us de-stress, makes us exercise, and even helps broaden and focus our attention. But can we isolate what exactly about nature makes it so good for us?
Beth, our resident Australian country girl, Ava, a city girl who almost never went outside, and Noah, who grew up somewhere in the middle, discuss the research & our own experiences with Mother Earth.
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Academic Articles and Books
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Attention Restoration Theory (ART): Felsten, G. (2009). Where to take a study break on the college campus: An attention restoration theory perspective. Journal of environmental psychology, 29(1), 160-167.
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Blue nature could be the best nature: White, M., Smith, A., Humphryes, K., Pahl, S., Snelling, D., & Depledge, M. (2010). Blue space: The importance of water for preference, affect, and restorativeness ratings of natural and built scenes. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(4), 482-493.
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Review article on effects of nature and different kinds of experiences: Bratman, G. N., Hamilton, J. P., & Daily, G. C. (2012). The impacts of nature experience on human cognitive function and mental health. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1249(1), 118-136.
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Nature in advertising, could help you remember the content: Hartmann, P., Apaolaza, V., & Alija, P. (2013). Nature imagery in advertising: Attention restoration and memory effects. International Journal of Advertising, 32(2),
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Nature walks decrease activation in a part of the brain associated with rumination & depression: Bratman, G. N., Hamilton, J. P., Hahn, K. S., Daily, G. C., & Gross, J. J. (2015). Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation. Proceedings of the national academy of sciences, 112(28), 8567-8572.
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Decrease in theta waves after spending time in nature: David Strayer’s Lab’s Cognition in the Wild Project
Check out a talk by Dr. Strayer here
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Nature Prescriptions: Dr. Nooshin Razani’s work
For children: Razani, N., Niknam, K., Wells, N. M., Thompson, D., Hills, N. K., Kennedy, G., ... & Rutherford, G. W. (2019). Clinic and park partnerships for childhood resilience: A prospective study of park prescriptions. Health & place, 57, 179-185.
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Park prescription and low income families: Razani, N., Morshed, S., Kohn, M. A., Wells, N. M., Thompson, D., Alqassari, M., ... & Rutherford, G. W. (2018). Effect of park prescriptions with and without group visits to parks on stress reduction in low-income parents: SHINE randomized trial. PloS one, 13(2).
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Immune boosts (increased Natural Killer cells) thanks to plant chemicals: Li, Qing, M. Kobayashi, Y. Wakayama, H. Inagaki, M. Katsumata, Y. Hirata, K. Hirata et al. "Effect of phytoncide from trees on human natural killer cell function." International journal of immunopathology and pharmacology 22, no. 4 (2009): 951-959.
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Forest bathing/Shinrin-yoku practices in Japan: Park, B. J., Tsunetsugu, Y., Kasetani, T., Kagawa, T., & Miyazaki, Y. (2010). The physiological effects of Shinrin-yoku (taking in the forest atmosphere or forest bathing): evidence from field experiments in 24 forests across Japan. Environmental health and preventive medicine, 15(1), 18.
Lighter Reading
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National geographic article ‘Your brain on Nature’