Nature Healing: Exploring Ecotherapy as a Health Modality

 Spending time outdoors (I call this outdoor time 'ecotherapy') can be incredibly beneficial for individuals experiencing trauma for several reasons. 

Ecotherapy & the study of the Languages of Nature has helped me with my aortic dissection healing

Here are a few key ways in which it can help:

1. Stress Reduction: Exposure to nature has been shown to reduce stress, with research demonstrating that spending time outdoors can lower heart rate, blood pressure, and levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Trauma can create chronic stress conditions, and mitigating stress is a significant step towards healing.
2. Mindfulness and Presence: The natural world can encourage a state of mindfulness, which involves focusing on the present moment rather than ruminating on past experiences or worrying about the future. This can be particularly helpful for individuals dealing with trauma, as it can provide a break from distressing memories and anxiety-provoking thoughts about the future.
3. Physical Activity: Outdoor environments are conducive to physical activities like walking, hiking, or cycling. Regular exercise has been found to reduce symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and can stimulate the release of endorphins, the body's natural mood lifters. Physical activity can also promote better sleep, which is often disrupted in those dealing with trauma.
4. Increased Social Interaction: Spending time outdoors, particularly in public parks or community gardens, can lead to increased social interactions. Social support is often a crucial component of trauma recovery, providing opportunities for shared understanding, emotional expression, and reassurance.
5. Restorative Environment: Nature has been described as a 'restorative' environment that can improve concentration and motivation. This is beneficial for those healing from trauma, where cognitive functioning can often be affected.
6. Improved Mood: Research has also linked exposure to green spaces with improved mood and mental health. This can be especially beneficial for those recovering from trauma, who may be experiencing issues such as depression or anxiety.
7. Ecotherapy: A form of therapeutic treatment which involves doing activities in nature. It can help to improve your mood, reduce feelings of stress or anger, help you take time out and feel more relaxed, improve your physical health, improve your confidence and self-esteem, help you be more active, help you make new connections, provide peer support, and provide a sense of belonging and community.  Ecotherapy benefits us through a variety of ways, such as;

• Improved Mental Health:
• Reduces Stress: Exposure to natural environments has been shown to lower cortisol levels, a hormone that the body produces in response to stress. This reduction can help mitigate feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression.
• Improves Mood: Nature has a calming effect that can elevate a person's mood. The simple act of taking a walk in a park has been found to trigger the release of endorphins, the body's natural mood elevator.
• Enhances Cognitive Functions: Natural settings can be restorative for our cognitive abilities. Research suggests that nature can help restore attention, improve problem-solving and creativity.
• Improved Physical Health:
• Physical Activity: Ecotherapy often involves physical activities such as gardening, conservation work, or walking, which can help improve cardiovascular health, muscle strength, and overall physical fitness.
• Exposure to Sunlight: Outdoor activities increase exposure to sunlight, which facilitates vitamin D production. Vitamin D is important for various bodily functions, including strengthening the immune system and bone health.
• Lowered Blood Pressure: Spending time in natural environments has been linked with lowered blood pressure, beneficial for heart health.
• Improved Emotional Well-being:
• Building Connection: Engaging with nature can help individuals feel more connected to the world around them, combat feelings of isolation, and build a sense of belonging.
• Mindfulness: Natural environments encourage mindfulness and can make it easier for individuals to focus on the present moment. Mindfulness has been linked with a range of health benefits, including improved emotional regulation and reduced rumination.
• Improved Social Health:
• Community Engagement: Many ecotherapy activities involve social interaction, promoting community engagement and social skills, which can be beneficial for individuals feeling isolated or struggling with social anxiety.
• Increased Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence: Accomplishing tasks in nature, like growing a garden or hiking a trail, can instill a sense of achievement, thereby boosting self-esteem and self-confidence.

Despite the noted benefits, it's important to mention that ecotherapy is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

Spending the day swimming in Wakulla Springs recently was so very relaxing

What works for one individual may not work for another. For some, ecotherapy might best serve as a complementary approach alongside traditional therapy or medication.  This form of therapy is based on the idea that people are connected to and impacted by the natural environment. It leverages the benefits of nature to promote healing and growth. 

While I personally attribute time outdoors to having contributed to healing PTSD and trauma associated with my aortic dissection, it should be noted that ecotherapy isn't considered a replacement for professional treatment methods such as psychotherapy, medication, or cognitive-behavioral techniques. Rather, it's an adjunct therapy that can support and enhance these other treatment modalities.

Regardless, I've found that spending time outdoors has provided me with so many healing health benefits since my dissection and aorta operations and highly recommend discussing ecotherapy with a professional for anyone seeking to anyone seeking relief from mental or physical trauma.

Gulf Breezes, Crickets and Palm Fronds

 Over twenty minutes of Gulf of Mexico salty breezes blowing through sabal palm (Sabal palmetto) fronds above a black rush (Juncus roemerianus) & cordgrass(Spartina alterniflora) marsh along a remote coastline of the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Field crickets (Gryllus spp.) can be heard through the audio recording. Peaceful ASMR generating ambiance of nature's coastal breezes. Sony PCM M10 recorder (24 bit 96 kHz) and LOM MikroUsi microphones, furry windshields and dry bags. 9pm.

Gulf Breezes, Crickets and Palm Fronds #ASMR #Ambient #SMNWR

November 31st Overnight Audio, Marsh Shoreline, SMNWR

 

Into the Saw Palmetto dominated pine flatwoods to the marsh waterline where I'll set up recorders for overnight audio collection

An hour of sunlight left, heading into the wet saw palmetto dominated pine and cypress lined sloughs to set up Sony recorders for overnight field recordings. Lots of migratory birds have made their way to the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge and they are quite vocal after dark & just before sunrise. I enclose the recorders set at 24 bit/96000 (50% gain) in drybags and cover the stereo mics (PIP power lav type, usually MikroUsi or Clippy) with fuzzy wind covers. Hang the drybags on a tree branch, draping mics over branches or using a wire hair tie place around trunk with a binaural mic arrangement. So excited to go back out at sunrise & collect recorders. Not quite like sleeping under the stars but listening to the night sounds of the marsh & flatwoods is healing. Check out bio link for a sampling of field recordings from the marshes of SMNWR 

Coyote Pack Calls, 1 a.m. St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge

Coyote Pack Calls, Port Leon Road, SMNWR November 2021 1 a.m.

Coyote Pack Calls link to Soundcloud

Coyote Pack reconciliation calls after a midnight hunt in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Recorder placed in a mixed hardwood slough in the midst of a wet pine flatwoods. Sony PCM with stereo microphones in dry bags. Waxing moon, light rain. November 2021. The acoustics of the flatwoods are complex. An abundance of water surface creates wave reflection and 'echos' as well as does the fire influenced open midstory under the acres and acres of pines. Note: Coyote calls are usually a signal for the pack to regather or to call juveniles after nighttime excursions and not necessarily to signal a kill. 

Night Sounds of SMNWR's HQ Pond.

 Here is an hour long audio of freshwater pond night sounds in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Audio clip contains Anhinga (their calls are ethereal), Great Blue Heron and Common Gallinule and Catbird, calls post sunset calls from the Headquarters Pond area of the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge on November 12, 2021. Sony PCM recorder with Clippy272 stereo microphones in a double dry bag placed in the fronds of a Sabal palmetto tree approximately 3 meters from the shoreline. Waxing moon, moderate temperatures and scattered light rain.

Night Sounds of the SMNWR Swamps

Desensitized to High Levels of Urban Noise

Background Noise Levels of the City & Nature

Spending a day hiking in nature makes me feel much better.  This 'feeling better' can be quantified too. For me, spending time out in the wilds resets my nervous system, lowers my blood pressure, dissipates stress and just makes me feel all around better.

Back in the city however we are continually exposed to a much heavier, constant background noise loading than we would be if we lived way out in the country.  There is a huge difference between the sounds in the urban core and the sounds in the wildlife refuge far away from roads, highways, buildings, factories and urban infrastructure.  Because we are desensitized to urban noise levels we don't realize how much this excess urban noise may be affecting our bodies. 

How does the constant elevated noise level from the city impact our health?  Irreversible hearing loss is now one of the most prevalent health issues affecting humans, as are hypertension and stress.  Loud urban noises include both unwanted noises such as traffic and wanted noises that include stereo speakers, concerts and loud car speakers.  All noises have a direct impact on our well being.

Spending a weekend day out in a state or regional park away from the city can provide a number of health benefits.  Time outdoors make us aware of just how noisy the urban core actually is.  From a health perspective it is important to recognize the true levels of ambient city noise we are exposed to daily.  Recognizing noises we previously ignored leads to an understanding of how spending time outside the city in nature can provide a number of important positive effects on our bodily systems.

The first 15 seconds of this audio was recorded just outside the Tallahassee city limit, in a residential neighborhood at midnight. The next 15 seconds were taken in the SMNWR at midnight, both recordings set with same gain (input volume) levels.  The differences in city noise and nature noise can be obvious when the ambient noise levels of both are compared side by side.  

When is the last time you have spent a number of hours outdoors, away from the city, hiking, tubing, swimming or camping?  Next time you go, pay attention to the differences between the noises from home and the much lower levels of background noise in the forests.  Once we are able to distinguish between urban and nature noise levels the contrast is obviously evident.

Working with nature recordings has heightened my desire to visit and re-visit the wilds.  As soon as I leave the city and draw near to the coastal wetlands preserves I feel a sense of relaxation come over me.  Immersed in birds' and frogs' melodious calls and the buffered quiet of forest green, my body responds with a noticeable increase in available energy tempered with deep relaxation. 

I am renewed.  Yet too soon the sun sets low and it is time to return to the noisy city.

Listen to the differences here.