Ahhh, the relaxing and care-free days of summer are finally here! As we celebrate the joys of longer daylight, warmer weather and more time outdoors, did you know that sunshine and nature can actually make you happier and healthier? While we all feel more relaxed and rejuvenated from time being outside, some amazing research in neuroscience and mind-body medicine suggests that nature and sunlight are now shown to alleviate stress, improve concentration and build a stronger immune system. So how exactly do nature and sunshine heal us in both body and being? The answer resides in our brains and relates to a concept known as the relaxation response, a mechanism that appears to be “wired” into our biology, helping us cope with anxiety and making us feel more calm and centered.
Brain Waves and the Power of Attention
Studies in neuropsychology now believe that the human brain allows us to process two distinct types of attention. The first is a “voluntary or direct” attention that enables us to focus our thoughts and neural energy to tasks that require our direct concentration, e.g. writing this article, watching a movie, or reading a book. The other type is an “involuntary or indirect” attention that our brain does with little or no effort, e.g. watching a sunset, meditating, having a casual conversation, or dancing.
Additionally, there are corresponding brain waves associated with these two types of attention. When we are in the waking state and our brains are engaged in voluntary, direct attention that require focused concentration, beta waves tend to be predominant. On the contrary, our brains produce alpha waves when we experience involuntary, indirect attention. Having our brains in beta-wave state is important, as it helps us to focus on daily tasks that necessitate sharpness and clarity. Unfortunately, many of us now live a typical day with our brains disproportionately in the highly-attuned beta-wave state and barely enough time in the healing and regenerative alpha-wave state.
In our current 24/7 technologically driven world, the human brain on average is bombarded with the equivalent of 174 newspapers of data every day! That's about five times the amount the human brain received just 30 years ago. No wonder we are overwhelmed with stress, have children with ADD and are constantly overwhelmed with anxiety–our poor brains are running in overdrive. All this sensory overload requires our brain to function in a constantly vigilant beta-wave state for the majority of our waking day. If that wasn't bad enough, studies indicate the human brain continues to experience these super-charged beta-waves when we try to go to sleep, leading to insomnia and chronic sleep-deprivation. Rarely, in our technologically-driven society do we take the necessary time for our brain to go into the calming, soothing alpha-wave state.
Mind-Body Connection
In the growing medical field of psycho-neuro-immunology (PNI), there appears to be a correlation between the various brain waves with our health and happiness. When our brains are highly amped up from information overload and are in constant beta-wave state, the stress-hormone cortisol is pumped in large amounts into the bloodstream. We now know that high levels of cortisol in the body lead to chronic anxiety, insomnia and disease. The good news is that when the brain is in the relaxed alpha-wave state, the brain releases endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin into the body. These neurotransmitters almost instantly enable us to become more relaxed and calm throughout our day. In addition to the brain's stress-response system, we also have a built-in relaxation response mechanism that our nervous systems evolved in order to help us return to a state of calm and relaxation in moments of stress and anxiety.
Nature Relatedness
So by now, I bet can you can guess what’s one of the easiest ways for us to trigger our brain's relaxation response and to enhance the alpha-wave state for greater harmony and happiness? The answer, of course, is NATURE! In another emerging field of study, known as ecopsychology, research indicates that even though the human brain has currently adapted for our modern and technologically-driven environment, its original function was to interact with and respond to the natural world. In essence, the human brain is literally “hard-wired” to BE IN NATURE, as being in nature is natural for the brain.
According to this field of study, human beings have an instinctual biological need to connect with nature, something known as the biophilic instinct or nature relatedness, a concept advanced by the Harvard biologist Edward Wilson. The idea is that the human brain evolved over millennia as a structure deeply enmeshed with and inexorably linked to the intricacies of nature. Even though our human brain has recently adapted to an environment of technology and sensory stimulation, we each still have this affinity for nature ingrained in both our brains and DNA. This evolutionary connection to nature activates the part of the brain known as the insula, the area that governs our internal feelings and sensations. So when we dance, do yoga meditate, focus on our breath, swim, run, or are in nature we begin to connect to the internal terrain of our body. The insula gauges how we’re feeling and what we’re experiencing within our body and mind in the present moment.
How Nature Heals
This ability to tap into the relaxation response through nature appears also to have a tremendous impact on our health and wellbeing. Scientific studies have already begun and continue to demonstrate the powerful healing aspects of nature. Dr. Ulrich published one of the earliest studies in 1984 Science, in which he noticed that patients who were recovering from surgery healed more quickly and required less pain medication when placed in hospital rooms that had views of nature, versus patients placed in rooms facing brick walls. Ulrich conjectured that this acceleration in healing was perhaps a result of the brain connecting to nature. It appears that when we are immersed in nature, our brains go automatically into the involuntary, indirect attention-mode that is connected with the healing alpha-wave brain state.
Let The Sun Shine In
Another remarkable piece of research suggests that 20-30 minutes of healthy and safe doses of sunshine can enhance our body's immunity to disease, improve our sleep and even elevate our happiness. It again has to do with the way natural sunlight stimulates our brain and body. It's important to mention that exposure to the sun should be limited to the early morning or late afternoon, when the UV rays are less harmful. It appears that sunlight stimulates the brain's production of serotonin, a neuro-chemical responsible for elevating our levels of happiness and is shown to positively enhance our immune system. When sunlight also hits the skin, the body's largest organ, it produces greater levels of vitamin D in the bloodstream. Studies at the University of Copenhagen have shown Vitamin D can trigger white blood cells in the body, assisting in the prevention of certain forms of cancer and auto-immune diseases. While certain foods like egg yolks and oily types of fish naturally contain vitamin D, it appears that the highest levels of vitamin D are found in sunlight. You can learn more about the healing power of sunlight in my podcast "How Sunshine Makes You Smarter, Happier and Healthier!"
So even if you live in the middle of urban sprawl or in places where sunlight is more limited, there are still plenty of ways to benefit from the healing power of nature and the outdoors. Even just a short walk outside on your lunch break, gazing out at a tree on your commute to the office, or literally just “stopping to smell the roses” once in a while are all beneficial to your health and wellbeing. What all these activities do is trigger a primal evolutionary trait that the human brain evolved to do–be one with nature!
So what better time than the summer season to get out in nature, feel the sun on your skin and experience greater health and happiness! As the poet Thoreau beautifully states, “I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.”
Read more on the healing power of nature in my "NATURE & TRAVEL" issue of my monthly e-newsletter.
Wishing everyone a joyous and beautiful summer!
Dr. Jay Kumar
www.drjaykumar.com
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