This was a harsh winter, and I'm glad it's over. I'm not much of a snow person, so I survived the blizzard of '10 by holing up and watching nature shows on TV. I can easily be mesmerized by rare footage of snow leopards in the Himalayas and wild stallions in the Rockies.
But is it really possible to get the psychological benefits of wilderness through nature TV and the like. Or do we actually need to feel the crunch of the snow and smell the pine needles? And what is it exactly that nature contributes to the human experience when we do get out in the elements?
Peter Kahn is one of a handful of environmental psychologists who have been exploring these questions scientifically. He and his colleagues at the University of Washington ran a series of experiments to see what benefit--if any--people get from high-quality technological versions of nature. In one experiment, for example, they installed plasma TV "windows" in workers' otherwise windowless offices for a period of 16 weeks, and then took various measures of psychological function. They found that those with the "views" of parkland and mountain ranges had a greater sense of well-being, clearer thinking, and a greater sense of connection to the natural world.
All that means, of course, is that HDTV is better than a blank wall. To see if the televised version stacks up against the real thing, Kahn ran another experiment in which some office workers had an actual view of a natural setting through a window--the old-fashioned glass kind--while others got the plasma version and still others the blank wall. They exposed all the workers to low levels of stress, not awful but bad enough to make their heart rate go up. Then they waited to see how long it took them to calm down.
As reported in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science, only the actual view of the outdoors had a calming effect; the plasma window was no more restorative than the blank wall. In other words, the technological version of nature--even when it came in HDTV quality--couldn't fool the neurons.
But what exactly is being restored by such immediate connection with nature? Or, put another way, what am I missing by staying indoors with my TV all winter? University of Michigan psychologist Marc Berman believes that nature actually shifts our brain from one processing mode to another. That is, when we walk around city streets with a lot of stimulation, we need to employ a very focused and analytic kind of attention; that's how we process rush-hour traffic and police sirens and other urban noises. That's also the kind of attention we need to study for exams, make financial decisions, and so forth--the business of daily life.
But this kind of attention can get depleted. Interacting with nature shifts the mind to a more relaxed and passive mode, allowing the more analytical powers to restore themselves. At least that's the theory, which Berman and his colleagues tested in a clever experiment. They gave a group of volunteers a very difficult cognitive test that measures the kind of focused attention needed for school and work. They then gave them an additional task to further deplete their normal ability to concentrate. This was the laboratory equivalent of having one of those hectic, demanding days at the office. Then all the volunteers took a three-mile walk. But half the volunteers took a leisurely stroll through a secluded part of the Ann Arbor Arboretum, while the others walked down Huron Street, a busy thoroughfare in downtown Ann Arbor. When they got back to the lab, the psychologists again measured their focus and concentration.
The findings were clear. As reported in the journal Psychological Science, those who had been on the nature walk had significantly better focus and attention than those who had been required to negotiate the city streets. It appears that interacting with nature requires a different and less demanding form of attention, and that the temporary switch-over allows workaday concentration to replenish. Getting into the woods and away from the hustle-and-bustle--and indeed away from the HDTV--actually equips us to cope better with the cognitive demands of daily life.
Dr. Hendrie Weisinger: The Psychology of Depression, Sex, Movies and Brains
But a suggestion for those who can't get out for nature walks, or out to real wilderness, or even out beyond city limits: look up. I realize that in big cities, you can't see much sky, but try to find a park, an open space, even a big parking lot. I'm not joking: one of the most magnificent rainbows I've ever seen I enjoyed while sitting on the hood of my car outside a public library. I was in college then, in a small city, but the parking lot gave enough space for me to see the entire rainbow.
Look up! The sky is there, and it too is "nature." Beautiful clouds, glorious blues, lovely grey days, Sandberg's fog coming in on its little cat feet, sunsets or moon rise... And at night, the moon and stars. Okay, I know those of you in cities are again limited in this regard. This is the only thing I dislike about visiting our daughter: she lives in Fullerton, CA, and there aren't any STARS. But even the night sky of cities can have its beauty, with the lights giving the clouds strange colors.
As long as you aren't under a roof, Nature's glory is always just a short distance overhead.
"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity..."
"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul"
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
"Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."
"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn."
“Society speaks and all men listen, mountains speak and wise men listen”
Great Article! Thank You.
~Thoreau
Thank you for this posting. I am a believer in the power of wilderness to help us become calmer and more focused. I read The Last Child in the Woods just before my daughter was born and saw the data regarding the use of green space and nature to help treat ADD/ADHD. I started taking my daughter on walks in the woods as soon as she was able to go outside and even when she was worked up and crying as an infant she would instantly calm down outside; I have always found her to be calm when she feels the wind and smells the trees. Now as a toddling 18 month old, she always touches the trees when we go by them. Dad (me) finds it calming to be outside too. I think there is a policy argument in this type of study for more accessible open space, as wild as possible, but simply green space with trees and things growing is a great start.
Jude
Mia Rose
http://www.basic-photography-tips.com
http://graciouslivingdaybyday.com/
It seems that when one walks through the city, everything one's eyes rest on is man-made and artificial.When one is in the wilderness everything the eyes rest on is living and feels infinite.
So, I wonder, did the study control for participant perception of their environs?
Credit - Jack Turner, The Abstract Wild
I wanted to comment on this one in regards to the implication that the nature that was perused in the study was quite tame - hardly wilderness. Compared to where I live in the woods - an area that is quite near the only thing representing wilderness left in this part of the world - in which nature and animals are a cause for constant concern. Poisonous plants, dangerous dead limbs and trees falling. Moose, black bears, porcupines, coyotes or wild dogs (domesticated dogs are an issue too) and a fox that walked through my backyard this morning after nabbing a couple of my chickens a few days ago - I've run into all of these animals in my walks in the woods often at close range though I've experienced no personal harm from them (can't say the same for my domesticated animals and property) and the likelihood of such is low but I've also dealt with the continual problems brought on by nature in poisonous plants and falling trees/limbs. Then again, I do live here which vastly increases my chances of such encounters. But it still seems to me that wilderness does claim many lives in a variety of ways every day, mostly it seems to me, due to the perceived notion of town and/or city dwellers that nature/wilderness is benign.
(cont'd)