In recent years a rather curious scene has spread: exhausted doctors who, instead of running towards an operating room, walk slowly in a forest. No secret missions, no strange experiments. It just is forest bathingan ancient Japanese practice that today is becoming part of the training of those who defend health every day.
Bringing this idea into the rigorous corridors of Harvard Medical School is Susan Abookire, an internal medicine specialist and teacher, who knows well what it means to cope with endless shifts, complex patients and that feeling of “I can’t take it anymore” that comes when the body warns you that you’ve pulled too hard. For her, the forest is not a spiritual refuge but a place where the nervous system finally manages to remove the handbrake.
During an outdoor session, told by the columnist of Washington Post Dana Milbank, the interns walked in silence as the light filtered through the leaves. No mantra, no motivational speech: just the sound of the wind and a breathing that, little by little, became less agitated. Abookire argues that these moments are not “poetry.” They are pure physiology.
And for years it has been training healthcare professionals who want to become “forest therapists”, a role now recognized in the Mass General Brigham hospital network. The idea is simple: if those who care for others live under constant pressure, perhaps the time has come to treat those who care too.
What does science say?
When it comes to forest bathing, many immediately imagine something mystical. In reality, everything is much more concrete. A major scientific review published in 2017 onInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health analyzed ten years of research conducted mainly in Japan and China, where this practice has been rooted for decades.
The scholars sifted through 64 studies and the result, to put it briefly, is that the human body responds to nature almost as it would to a drug: blood pressure lowers, the mind slows down, the immune system activates, anxiety loses intensity. And there is also an interesting detail: in many people a sense of “wonder” appears which is not spirituality, but a mix of gratitude and mental clarity that makes the days a little more bearable.
The authors explain these effects through a simple mechanism: when we are surrounded by nature, the brain deactivates the constant stress alarm and instead activates the “calm” part, the one that allows us to digest, rest, think clearly. It’s as if the forest reminds us that we are not designed to live in “survival” mode all day.
The review says it openly: more research is needed in the West, because the way we live – chaotic cities, tight deadlines, screens everywhere – deserves to be studied in depth. But the direction is clear: nature is not a whim, it is a part of our health.
Because forest bathing works even if your “forest” is a city park
The most interesting part is that forest bathing does not require a pristine forest. Studies show that fifteen minutes in an urban park are enough to lower the heart rate and relieve that feeling of “everything weighs on me” that we often carry with us. There is even an experiment in which participants were placed in front of three simple houseplants. Result: more oxygen in the prefrontal cortex, more concentration, less agitation. Three plants. Not a zen temple.
While Abookire guides stressed doctors through the trees of Massachusetts, we can simply slow down in a public garden, recognize a smell of wet earth, listen to two footsteps on the path. You don’t need a philosophical framework: it’s everyday life, it’s atmosphere, it’s allowing the body to remember how to breathe when no one is chasing it.
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