Tree Hugging Scientifically Proven to Improve Your Healthby Shellee TylerTree hugging has now been shown to have scientific validity after all. Contrary to popular belief, touching a tree does make you healthier. In fact you don't even have to touch the tree to get better, just being within its vicinity has the same effecthttp://planetsave.com/2011/07/22/tree-hugging-scientifically-proven-to-improv...My Comments:There is so much that modern science does not know, or does not accept, when it comes to natural healing and healing energy. But then, how can you patent and profit from tree hugging?Modern science denied any benefits from accupuncture other than the placebo effect until study after study proved them wrong. Some still cling to that view and they continue to deny chakras and other healing energy that is outside their mainstram science.Likewise, aromatherapy has long been written off as quakery, Then it was found to be quite scientifically valid. See:"Taking Time to Smell Roses Really CAN Ease Stress"A favorite target of mainstream medicine dating back over a century has been homeopathy. Science could not understand it and it also has represented a very big threat to the profits of mainstream drugs and treatments. Then a nobel prize winning scientist discovered the basis for homeopathy:Nobel Scientist Discovers Scientific Basis of HomeopathyBesides the profit motive behind denial of anything which cannot be patented and profited from, mankind continues to fall into the same centuries-old trap of believing that the science of today has all the answers. That was true when science believed that the world was flat, it was true when science believed that the sun and rest of the universe revolved around the earth, and it is true today.Just as has happened time and again, a hundred years or two from now science will look back upon today's lack of knowledge with disdain. And probably once again believe that it has all the answers.As a final note, It has yet to be determined if second-hand tree hugging is also beneficial - that is, hugging a tree hugger - but I'm betting that it is.Can taking a walk in the woods boost your immune system and increase your physical and mental healing? Turns out tree huggers may be right. Scientific studies have shown that the ancient Asian practice of forest bathing, or walking, and staying, in the woods, increases immune system function and lowers stress.How a walk in the woods can improve your healthThis natural healing treatment has been used as a traditional physical and mental healing way for thousands of years in Asia to cure a variety of ailments. Tree hugging health. When you're sick, they send you to the woods.Trees: A Natural Cancer Treatment?Researchers in Japan have shown that people who forest bath have increased immune system function.The scientists recently discovered that people who took "forest baths" dramatically increased their level of a variety of immune defense cells including NK or natural-killer cells, a kind of "special forces" cell that seeks out and kill tumors and cancer cells.Once a week for 2 hours is all it takes to increase your immune defenseThe scientists sent 25 healthy men and women into the woods for 2-hour walks a day for three days in a row.They found that all the test tree hugger subjects experienced "significantly increased" immune cell activity especially in NK or natural killer cells.The researchers also found that these immune cell levels stayed increased when they measured them a week and a month later.A good walk in the woods for a few hours once a month should help most healthy people keep their immune systems functioning well.Certainly a walk in the woods is not all you need to cure cancer or heal an illness, but the research has shown that this can be be a powerful complement to other healing methods.How does forest bathing work?According to the research, plants and trees give off substances called phytoncides ("fight insides?") that help them defend against disease and insects.Apparently we can absorb this stuff through our skin and breathing merely by being in the presence of plants and trees. Conveniently, phytoncides also boost our own immune defenses and acts like a natural cancer cure.Pass the pine tree, dude. Forests - the ultimate stress relieverBut wait, there's more. A forest bath can also help you relax. Different researchers studied nearly 500 people and discovered that after forest bathing, people showed "significantly decreased levels of hostility and aggression" compared to their everyday levels.They concluded forests could be viewed as "therapeutic landscapes" for people with chronic stress.No city benefitJust to be sure, when the researchers measured people who took a trip to a city, there was no measurable increase in NK cells or activity and no stress relief.A dream for the health industryI image a time when hospitals and health insurance companies own vast tracts of forests, "therapeutic landscapes" and send patients into them for low/no cost healing. Everybody wins.More info on this alternative and natural healing and possible cancer treatment:In an analysis of 18 years of data from 1,296 counties in 15 states, researchers found that Americans living in areas infested by the emerald ash borer, a beetle that kills ash trees, suffered from an additional 15,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease and 6,000 more deaths from lower respiratory disease when compared to uninfected areas.Theres a natural tendency to see our findings and conclude that, surely, the higher mortality rates are because of some confounding variable, like income or education, and not the loss of trees, said Donovan. But we saw the same pattern repeated over and over in counties with very different demographic makeups.Hugging trees cures cancerA [2010] study [by Dr. Eeva Karjalainen, of the Finnish Forest Research Institute] claims the tranquillity of the natural setting helps the body create the kind of cells it needs to kill disease. The report into the health benefits of forests also revealed that if you go down to the woods today it could also help reduce stress, muscle fatigue, ADHD, depression and bring down an erratic heart rate.The music of the plants in Damanhur in Northwestern ItalyAs early as 1976, Damanhurian researchers had created equipment capable of capturing electromagnetic changes on the surface of leaves and roots and transforming them into sounds.The trees learn to control their electrical responses, as if they are aware of the music they are creating. Research continues on creating a model of this device easily available to the public so that this profound experience of communication with the plant world can be shared with whoever desires it.Tree hugging now scientifically validatedIn a recently published book, Blinded by Science, the author Matthew Silverstone, proves scientifically that trees do in fact improve many health issues such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), concentration levels, reaction times, depression and other forms of mental illness. He even points to research indicating a trees ability to alleviate headaches in humans seeking relief by communing with trees. The author points to a number of studies that have shown that children show significant psychological and physiological improvement in terms of their health and well being when they interact with plants and trees. Specifically, the research indicates that children function better cognitively and emotionally in green environments and have more creative play in green areas. Also, he quotes a major public health report that investigated the association between green spaces and mental health concluded that access to nature can significantly contribute to our mental capital and wellbeing.Adding trees makes life more manageableIn a study conducted in a Chicago public housing development, women who lived in apartment buildings with trees and greenery immediately outside reported greater effectiveness and less procrastination in dealing with their major life issues than those living in barren but otherwise identical buildings. In addition, the women in greener surroundings found their problems to be less difficult and of shorter duration. Thus it seems that trees help poor inner city residents cope better with the demands of living in poverty, feel more hopeful about the future, and manage their most important problems more effectively.Whatever scientific, intuitive, experiential or spiritual truths resonate for us, I am convinced that living in close proximity to trees (and flowers and shrubs and water) has a profound healing effect on us. I know it does on me and am grateful every day to look out my windows and see the abundance of the natural world. It always gives me hope.