A visit to Northwood might be fun, but it also has magical and very positive health benefits that you won’t find on other days out. Forest Bathing, or Shinrin-Yoku was first developed in the 1980’s by doctors in Japan, and this simple concept has since become the cornerstone of preventative healthcare and healing in Japanese medicine. It’s a simple idea – when a person walks in the woods in a relaxed way there are calming, restorative and rejuvenating benefits. However a robust body of scientific literature has now been established to prove this works and it is prescribed as a health treatment.
We’ve been fans of this concept for years and have observed the health benefits of the woods first hand, however it is fabulous to see this becoming so well recognised and the evidence is persuasive for even the most cynical amongst us. Trees are now proven to give off organic compounds that support our natural killer cells – part of our immune systems way of fighting cancer and other diseases.
The scientifically-proven benefits of Shinrin-yoku include:
- Boosted immune system functioning, with an increase in the count of the body's NK cells.
- Improved sleep
- Reduced blood pressure
- Reduced stress
- Increased ability to focus, even in children with ADHD
- Improved mood
- Accelerated recovery from surgery or illness
- Increased energy levels
Why not take up an annual membership and make Forest Bathing a regular part of your life…