Ifthe Great Outdoors had a LinkedIn account,
it would be highly connected (happy to intro-
duce you to the most epic sunsets and hiking
trails), it would get ringing endorsements from
the world’s top scientists (lifts mood! lowers cor-
tisol!), and its stunning profile would be viewed by millions.
And yet these days it’s having a tough time finding clients. The
stats tell a sobering story: We spend approximately 90 percent of our
time indoors, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. To
boil that down to actual hours, another study found that more than
half of us log fewer than five hours a week outside. (We’ve had
single-session Netflix binges that lasted longer.)
Such findings are curious when you think about the huge
demand for sustainably sourced skin- and hair-care products that
harness the best of the planet without harming it. And we seem to
have a bottomless appetite for beauty inspired by nature: shadows
the hue of volcanic rock? Skin that shimmers like an alpine pool?
Why, yes! How to reconcile these realities? Consider your time out-
doors as much a part of your beauty routine as your daily moistur-
izer, says entrepreneur Jennifer Walsh, who spends at least 30
minutes a day outdoors. Walsh also runs hour-long Wellness Walks
for students and executives in New York City’s Central Park. “A sim-
ple walk,” she says, “can do so much for your skin, your body, and
your brain.” Add another endorsement to the profile page.
Like all twentysomethings in
America, I am stressed out most
of the time. The cortisol levels in
my bloodstream boil at a level
just shy of requiring evacuation
of the tristate area. And like all
twentysomethings in America, I
am broke. So as much as I would
love to manage this stress with
daily acupuncture, or weekly
champagne brunches, or
monthly 19-hour aerial-yoga
retreats sponsored by CanyonWOODSY NOTES
Ranch, my wellness budget
amounts to zero dollars and a
handful of dimes I found in an
old pair of jeans.
This is what makes the idea
of “forest bathing” so
enchanting. The wellness
practice of immersing yourself in
nature, which was more or less
invented in Japan in the 1980s,
emerged from the Japanese
cultural tradition of embracing
nature. Today, there are 62Forest Therapy Roads across
Japan, and small but promising
studies have shown that forest
bathing decreases stress
hormones and blood pressure
rates. Wellness blogs
popularized the concept
Stateside, and now there is even
a podcast that features the
sounds of one man hiking
through the Pacific Northwest.
Most enchantingly, it is as free
as walking into a non-national
park near you.
Unlike everything else in
wellness, there are few rules
here: Walk into a park and, uh,
be there for a bit. So, armed with
nothing but a water bottle and a
generalized anxiety disorder, I
ascended the cactus-lined paths
of Runyon Canyon Park in Los
Angeles, where I was on location
for another assignment. For an
hour, I hiked. I hummed a tune I
thought I had invented that
turned out to be the bridge from
“Work From Home” by Fifth
Harmony. I petted a German
shepherd carrying a traffic cone
in his mouth. I inhaled and
exhaled what I assumed was
some of the cleanest air in Los
Angeles County. I let the
California sun sink deep into my
skin, and I photosynthesized. I
felt lighter and clearer, as
promised—although I’m not sure
if that was the forest washing
over me or the endorphins. It
doesn’t matter: It worked, and it
was free. —BRENNAN KILBANE§
We tend to equate the outdoors with free time. But there’s agrowing movement to bring our work lives in step withnature. TED Talks boast of the power of walking meetings,and research suggests that being outside and unpluggingfrom tech can help breed greater focus in the office.