Spending Time in a Forest Can Boost Health and Lower Stress. Here’s How

There is a moment of awe that washes over you when you step into a forest. Century-old trees tower above, sunlight twinkling through them. Birds tweet. Spiders weave their elaborate webs. The smell of pine needles fill the air.

The act of spending time in the forest is what the Japanese call shinrin-yoku, a term originating in the 1980s that means “bathing in the forest atmosphere,” says Qing Li, a researcher on this topic and a professor at Nippon Medical School in Tokyo. “This is not exercise or hiking or jogging,” he writes in his 2018 book Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness. “It is simply being in nature, connecting with it through our sense of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch.”

Not only is “forest bathing” a magical way to explore nature, decades of research has shown that it’s good for your health. It can boost your immune system, lower blood pressure and help with depression. It can also reduce the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline and turn down the dial on your body’s fight-or-flight response.