didn’t really know, though, was why nature seemed to be helpful in
alleviating so many things that ail us. And there were a lot of other
things they didn’t know: who was best helped, by what mechanisms in
the brain and body, what was the right dose, and, moreover, what
qualified as “nature”? I personally like Oscar Wilde’s broad
definition: “a place where birds fly around uncooked.”
Many scientists the world over are trying to find answers. My
exploration of these questions would send me down a river in Idaho
with a boatload of women veterans, to South Korea, where grown
firemen hold hands in the woods, to sound labs measuring stress
recovery, to treadmills in 3D virtual-reality rooms and to downtown
Edinburgh, Scotland, where I’d walk around with a brain-measuring
EEG unit wrapped around my scalp like a postmodern crown of
thorns. I’d measure black carbon and my own blood pressure, pulse
rate, cortisol and facial responses to “awe.” I would meet researchers
convinced that the secret to nature’s power lies in its geometric
fractal patterns, or its particular sound vibrations, or the aerosols
from trees. It was a sensory extravaganza.
Scientists are quantifying nature’s effects not only on mood and
well-being, but also on our ability to think—to remember things, to
plan, to create, to daydream and to focus—as well as on our social
skills. There were times when I was skeptical, and times when I
believed. I spent time with people who were trying to get well, people
who were trying to get smart, people finding the best ways to educate
young children (who are, by nature, exploratory, kinetic and full of
wonder, all qualities enhanced by time outside) and people who were
merely trying, like me, to stay sane in a frenetic world. Because of the
two years I spent researching this book, I would emerge feeling better
myself, and much more aware of the surprising science behind why I
was feeling that way. And while “well-being” may sound like vague
psychospeak, its impact is real. Enhancing it has been shown to add
years to your life span.