In 2015, a survey carried out as part of the
Nature festival revealed that 96% of French people surveyed perceived nature as a “place of well-being and healing”.
Today the avalanche of books about it – driven by the bestseller The Secret Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben (2017) -, sylvotherapy (recharging one’s batteries in the forest) which brings together more and more followers or even the proliferation of “nature and well-being” exhibitions are just as many signs that we feel a need for green in our increasingly urbanized lives.
VIDEO : The fashion of sylvotherapy, or well-being through trees (Special Envoy / YouTube – 2017)
While the hypothesis of a link between human well-being and nature has long been accepted, research carried out in fields of study as varied as medicine, psychology, and even cognitive sciences effectively validate this theory. We must also take into account the social and environmental upheavals of recent decades that have impacted nature and our relations with it.
Recently, researchers have draw up a panorama the various research axes explored and the results around the theme of human well-being and nature. The notion of well-being, as understood here, does not relate only to health, as the absence of disease, but more generally refers to a physical, mental and social state of well-being.
Nature as a remedy
Being in contact with nature promotes our physical and psychological well-being.
Several studies observe a reduction in stress and depression, favored by the natural environment and, conversely, an improvement in self-esteem, the feeling of happiness or even creativity.
Nature heals our ailments and, more than that, it also improves our capacities and our cognitive functions, reducing fatigue and restoring our attention span, so required by everyday life. It also contributes to our physical well-being: reduction of pain, blood pressure, obesity or even acceleration of healing and prevention of certain diseases.
In short, nature is not simply a necessary substrate in which human cultures take root, but a breeding ground that influences our daily lives and which, perhaps, is precisely what allows these cultures to grow and develop. develop.
What kind are we talking about?
The nature in question can take very diverse forms: it can be elements of nature (stones, water, wind), fauna, flora, landscapes (sea, mountain, forest ), which do not necessarily belong to a biodiversity that acts in a defined ecosystem.
For example, in 1984, a study already showed that patients with a window to the outside recovered more quickly from operations than other patients without such vision.
A view of nature would help heal faster © Jacob Meyer / Unsplash
Are a few green plants or a photograph of the sea enough to experience the benefits of nature? The question is important since it potentially has consequences in terms of the choice of environmental protection and public health policy.
A nature rich in biodiversity
Studies converge on the idea that a healthy nature, that is to say rich in biodiversity and functional, ensures good human health.
This finding may seem obvious, yet the more systematic convergence of debates between environmental and social issues is quite recent. The media coverage of discussions around the renewal of the European license for glyphosate, a herbicide widely used in agriculture, or more broadly the explosion in demand for organic products, reflect the growing sensitivity of public opinion to these issues. When it comes to direct exposure or through food, the relationship between degraded natural systems and negative effects on human health is easy to imagine.
The added value on health and well-being, provided by a rich environment compared to scattered natural elements, must still be explored.
One area in which the benefits provided by exposure to environments rich in biodiversity are clearly illustrated is that of chronic allergies and inflammatory diseases. Exposure to a multiplicity of natural habitats normally allows the development of immune responses to allergens and other factors that can cause disease. Lack of exposure to microbes, especially in early childhood, can lead to poor acclimatization of the body’s microbial community, and an unexpected reaction to certain particles.
Contemplate a wild landscape soothes © Anneliese Phillips / Unsplash
The environment of individuals must therefore include a diverse source of microbes allowing adequate inoculation.
According to’so-called biodiversity hypothesis, the decrease in human exposure to the microbial population would affect the
microbiote, which would lead to the development of different diseases.
A dose of nature
What is at stake today is that healthy nature is not just about an environment devoid of chemicals. The destruction of natural habitats and species, the overexploitation of resources or even climate change are also factors of human origin which contribute to making nature less diversified and alter its functioning; and in turn, endanger our health and well-being.
In what relations with nature do you have to be involved in order to perceive the benefits? Should we look at it or touch it? And with what regularity?
Here again, the questions are important because they are part of a contemporary context of changing relationships with nature, due to urban and sedentary lifestyles. We spend less and less time outdoors and, for most of us, in a depleted natural environment, to the point that some authors speak of “ extinction of experience ».
The parameters that influence human well-being are sometimes difficult to isolate from all of the subjects’ lived experiences. This is why certain authors propose as a research framework the concept of “dose” of nature, making it possible to associate different durations, frequencies and intensities of experiences and exposure to nature. The various parameters that make up this “dose” are then processed according to the health of the individuals. The importance of the benefits resulting from the relationship with nature would thus depend on the dose of nature received.
VIDEO : We all need nature (WWF France / YouTube – 2016)
See life in green
However, the complexity of the mechanisms of natural benefits to human well-being is still elusive. Why does nature do us good? To this question, the hypothesis of “biophilia” is advanced, postulating that the human being has an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life. This interest in nature would be the product of a biological evolution allowing the best possible adaptation to the environment.
The rapid decrease in natural habitats and the collapse of the diversity of animal and plant species points to a worrying scenario for human well-being. In addition, contemporary lifestyles mean, for a large number of individuals, a lower direct exposure to the natural environment.
If our well-being depends in part on the quality of our connection to nature, one can wonder about the human and environmental consequences of this “disconnection” which is beginning. To reverse this trend, the development of scientific research must be accompanied by the implementation of actions in the field.
It is necessary to rethink the approach to management policies, particularly in the area of urban planning, where it seems urgent to bring
nature in the city, protect and promote biodiversity in these areas.
At the same time, the field of education also bears a responsibility in taking measures to encourage young people to develop and maintain relationships with nature as early and as regularly as possible.
While the preservation of biodiversity struggles to fit into the agendas, the recognition of human health and well-being as an element strictly dependent on favorable environmental conditions could be a decisive argument.
This analysis was written by Alix Cosquer, researcher in environmental psychology and psychology of conservation at the University of Western Brittany.
The original article was published on the website of The Conversation.
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