The Eye of the Beholder - Part 3
How nature can re-set your Mind-Body-Food Connection through your eyes
A Quick Series Recap
In case you missed it, The Eye of the Beholder is the first of a five part series on your Mind-Body-Food Connection. I have focused on sight first because it is one of our fastest ways of determining if we are safe and well, and sight determines where our focus and attention go. I am providing a fast recap here, but it will make more sense if you read the other two parts before moving on to today’s post.
In The Eye of the Beholder Part 1, I introduce our eyes in their primary role in our human stress response/reaction and describe fight, flight, freeze and fawn which are all tied to our survival. I explore the role our eyes play in finding food, which is also critical to our survival. Then I wrap up part 1 with a discussion on “food density” and what that means to us as humans in a modern world.
In The Eye of the Beholder Part 2, I look at our food trends over the last several decades and explore how the shift to larger for-profit food systems have affected what we eat. This includes the shift to ultra processed foods, the increasing use of dyes that trick our eyes into believing food is of higher quality than it is, and the ‘no ugly food rule’.
That brings us now to The Eye of the Beholder Part 3 where today we are going to look at how nature can re-set our Mind-Body-Food Connection through our eyes. (Read through to the end where the self-experiments and tips are to help you take action with the information we’ve covered. You will get to convert this information into knowledge!)
Immerse in Nature
Let’s start with the health benefits that being in nature provides, and work from there.
“Nature itself is the best physician.”
– Hippocrates
Forest Bathing
Stepping away from your routine life, and the stresses you may be under, is as easy as spending time in nature. In Japan, this act is called “Forest Bathing” or Shinrin-yoku. Research published in the journal Environmental Health and Preventative Medicine (2010) demonstrated that just 15 minutes spent in a forest had both physiological and psychological impacts on the test subjects. Compared to walking in a city, time in a forest resulted in lower pulse rate, blood pressure, and cortisol. Forest walkers also experienced reduced tension, fatigue and an increase in vigor as scored using a standardized “Profile of Mood States” system. The research has expanded to the point where a new field of “Forest Medicine” has emerged with many well documented health benefits.
Plants Help Us Heal
A fascinating study published in 1984 demonstrated that hospitalized patients assigned to rooms with a view of nature had shorter hospital stays, troubled the nurses less, and took fewer pain medications compared to a matched set of patients assigned to rooms that had a brick wall view.
More recent studies show that plants in hospital rooms, and hospitals with gardens, help patience heal faster. Furthermore, patients that interact with plants significantly reduce their recovery times.
Keeping plants in areas where children learn increases their ability to focus, allows them to learn and remember new things easier, and generates more positive attitudes about learning. Seeing and interacting with plants can be a natural therapeutic intervention for ADHD children that improves their functional behavior (2022).
Knowing all this, isn’t it strange that hospitals, doctors’ offices, schools and educational facilities are often devoid of plants??
