workers are unionized. They get five-week vacations, pensions and
health care, as well as one-year paid parental leave (men as well as
women are encouraged to take time off). When I was sending scores
of emails overseas for this book, I would frequently receive messages
that the recipient was on parental leave for the next several seasons
and not checking email. If these workers are stressed out, what did
this bode for Americans, 25 percent of whom get no paid vacation at
all?
The Finnish government is funding Tyrväinen because it knows it
has a limited pool of workers in a small country. As her colleague
Jessica de Bloom told me, “In other countries, you select the right
person for the job and if that person gets burned out, then you find
another person. Here, you keep that individual as long as possible,
you keep them happy.”
So while the Japanese researchers had given their subjects
questionnaires about mood, Tyrväinen’s team decided to add other
quantifiable measures of restoration, vitality and creativity, all related
to happiness on the job. If the Kaplans’ Attention Restoration Theory
is correct, the Finns would expect to see higher scores after time in
nature. Sample questions for restoration (participants are supposed to
rate the statements on a scale): “I feel calm.” “I have enthusiasm and
energy for everyday routines.” “I feel focused and alert.” Sample
question for vitality: “I feel alive and vital.” And for creativity: “I got
several new ideas.” While self-answered questionnaires aren’t as sexy
or reliable as objective measures of brain waves and hormone levels
(sometimes the participants can guess what the researchers are after,
potentially biasing results), in larger studies they tend to be pretty
accurate, especially in conjunction with other types of physiological
or cognitive tests.
In one study, Tyrväinen and her colleagues asked 3,000 city
dwellers about their emotional and restorative experiences in nature.
They found the biggest boosts occurred after five hours a month in