Healing with nature

Description

Healing with nature involves utilizing natural environments, elements, and processes to restore physical, mental, and emotional well-being. This strategy includes activities such as exposure to green spaces, therapeutic horticulture, and nature-based therapies to alleviate stress, enhance recovery, and improve health outcomes. By reconnecting individuals and communities with natural settings, it addresses issues like urban stress, mental fatigue, and lifestyle-related illnesses, offering accessible, cost-effective remedies that support holistic healing and resilience.

Implementation

In a classic 1984 study with patients recovering from gall bladder removal surgery in a suburban Pennsylvania hospital, some convalescents were able to gaze at nature while the others saw only a brick wall. Those with trees outside their window recovered faster, and requested fewer pain medications, than those with a "built" view. They even had slightly fewer surgical complications.