Nature-Deficit Disorder: Is there a pill for that?
- Will Malcolm
- Jan 25, 2024
- 4 min read
Imagine a medicine so accessible, that it is waiting for you… literally right outside your front door.
Imagine that this medicine lowers your blood pressure, reduces your stress hormone levels, promotes physical healing, bolsters immune system function, raises your self-esteem, improves your mood, and reduces inflammation. Additionally, what if this treatment had no side effects and works 100% of the time? I’m probably starting to sound like a late-night infomercial making unsubstantiated claims, but in this case, all of the above claims are true.
So, what is this uber powerful treatment that is right in front of our faces and that we overlook on a daily basis? Nature. Yes! The outdoors provides all of the above mentioned effects and quite a few more!
As the field of medicine is constantly progressing and seeking new answers for conditions and ailments, it may be surprising to learn that the medical field is starting to look back to our roots in nature for cures. A recent Outside Magazine article entitled, The Nature Cure: Science’s newest miracle drug is free by Aaron Reuben, goes into depth on the health benefits of basking in the wonders of nature.
Sounds crazy, huh? While there is currently no medical diagnostic code for nature-deficit disorder, Dr. Robert Zarr, who is both the Founder of the public-health nonprofit Park RX and also a practicing pediatrician says if there was such a code “I’d use it a lot!”. With over 485 published studies linking time spent in nature to better health, there is a growing movement among physicians in the US writing prescriptions for patients to spend more time outside, in what are termed “nature-prescriptions”. What is it about nature that has doctors across the country writing prescriptions for spending time out in trails, parks, and forests?
The first reason is that exposure to non-threatening natural stimuli such as sunlight, the scent of plants, and swaying of trees in the breeze all combine to activate the unconsciously controlled “rest and digest” function of our nervous system. Studies have shown how detrimental chronic stress is to our health.
What if time spent in nature is the antidote? While, in our high stress hustle and bustle world of email, rush hour traffic, over-booked schedules, these stressful stimuli activate the “fight, flight, or freeze” system that is truly designed to help us survive. Over time through chronic exposure, these stressful stimuli wear down our immune, digestive, reproductive, and psychological health. In other words, in our increasingly urbanized and tech-focused world, nature signals our brains to shift from a depleting state to a restorative state. Dr. Chao-Ying Wu, a pediatrician in Bellingham, Washington says, “the environment of our original adaptation is all about outdoors, it just makes sense”. Another reason that nature seems to be a perfect Rx is that the outdoors is a great place to engage in beneficial behaviors like exercise, socializing, and be more present which all aid in activating the “rest and digest” component of our nervous system.
The second reason, and a particularly fascinating and highly beneficial aspect of nature, is sun exposure. Getting healthy amounts of sun exposure is a well-known requirement for our production of vitamin D, but did you know that sun exposure does a lot more for us than just produce vitamin D? For instance, morning sunlight exposure aids in reinforcing our circadian rhythm which impacts how our bodies regulate energy balance, hormone release, sleep among many other functions. You’ve likely heard of melatonin being the sleep hormone and that it is released after dusk and lulls us to sleep, but did you know that exposure to bright sunshine during the day is what actually aids in the production of melatonin?
This sunlight ensures you actually have enough melatonin built up to be release later on in the evening! In case you are concerned with UV exposure (the spectrum of sunshine which in high dosages can damage DNA and potentially cause cancer), you can still access all the benefits of the sun through the morning sunlight! AM sunshine is free of the UV spectrum and provides the beneficial vitamin D and even infrared spectrum of light, all beneficial to your health.
Did you know that morning sunshine exposure between 8 am and noon is associated with a lower BMI than getting afternoon sun exposure? “For every hour later in which an individual got the majority of their light exposure in the AM, that translated into 1.22 BMI units,” — or 5 pounds to 10 pounds less on a 5-foot-8 person, says Dr. Phyllis Zee, a professor of neurology and director of the Northwestern Medicine Sleep and Circadian Rhythms Research Program.
To circle back to Dr. Robert Zarr and his “nature-prescriptions”, Zarr says that he typically asks two main questions when writing a nature prescription for a patient.
What do you like to do outside?
Where do you like to do it?
Following the patient’s answers, Dr. Zarr says that he focuses next on working towards increasing the frequency and dosage. To help patients re-discover nature opportunities, he has created a website called https://parkrxamerica.org which aids in connecting people with local parks and the enjoyment of nature.
So, maybe ask yourself: how much time do I spend outside? How much AM sunlight do I get per day? Perhaps, the next time you are feeling stressed, a bit blue, or under the weather consider the nature prescription. “Some of the most promising innovations in health care seem to be things we’ve recently discarded. Maybe we need food that wasn’t developed in a lab. Maybe we need to talk face to face. Maybe we need time outside”. Maybe many of our answers to our health dilemmas are right under our noses.
Bonus Material: check out this fantastic ParkRX infographic for more information and statistics on the health benefits of being outdoors.
In good health,
William Malcolm
IntuitiveWellnessNow
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