Greening the Mind-Look what a walk in the woods can do! Think what more a swim or kayak ride can do for our body and soul. Stay tuned for more outdoor activity info on our FB page!
Journalist Florence Williams traveled to N.Japan in ’12 to investigate research indicating that walking in a green forest decreases physiological measures such as heart rate and blood pressure. She joined University of Chiba scientist Y. Miyazaki for a clinical comparison of the brain activity & vital signs of 12 male college students during a walk in a forest versus a walk in an urban setting. Williams was not an official participant in the study, but she did have her vital signs measured. She learned that when she was walking in the forest, oxyhemoglobin concentrations in the prefrontal cortex of her brain declined, showing that her sympathetic nervous system had gotten a restorative break. Her systolic blood pressure had dropped 6 points by the end of the forest walk, whereas it rose 6 points during the city walk (Williams 2)
Makes you want to go…. ahhhhhh
