Nature

  Research reveals that environments can increase or reduce our   stress , which in turn impacts our bodies. What you are seeing, hearing, experiencing at any moment is changing not only your mood, but how your nervous, endocrine, and immune systems are working. The stress of an unpleasant environment can cause you to feel anxious, or sad, or helpless. This in turn elevates your blood pressure, heart rate, and muscle tension and suppresses your immune system. A pleasing environment reverses that. And regardless of age or culture, humans find nature pleasing. In one study cited in the book  Healing Gardens,  researchers found that more than two-thirds of people choose a natural setting to retreat to when stressed.   Our forests, rivers, oceans and soils provide us with the food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we irrigate our crops with. We also rely on them for numerous other goods and services we depend on for our health, happiness and prosperity. The...