The Nature Fix by Florence Williams (Feb. 2023 book)

The Nature Fix by Florence Williams

october 25, 2022 by scriber

10/25/2022

was referred to this book from a webinar I attended about Japanese Gardens

Why

Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative

Introduction

The Nature Fix by Florence Williams

Notes from book that was purchased October 25, 2022 by scriber

1. was referred to this book from a webinar I attended about Japanese Gardens
2. Why
3. Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative
4. Introduction
   1. story of hiking and phone mapping (to determine wat makes people happy). Basic survival skills met. Paper shows that people are happier outside
   1. How we spend our days is how we spend our lives
   1. I-phones take up 26 min. more than android
   1. Place matters
   1. Does nature have influence of your soil
   1. We are losing are touch to nature
   1. We are all more aggressive, mood, relativity
   1. Person was uneasy after the move (nature neurons) nature deficit disorder)
   1. Ability to think
   1. This book is brought down to 5 parts
5. in 2008 homo sapiens officially became an urban species (World Heath Organization data) shows more people live in urban areas than rural P. 10
6. massive migration of people
7. Chapter 1. Biophilia Effect

9. Japan likes to bound with nature
10. death from overwork
11. let nature into your body 5 ways
12. Forest medicine
13. look out for anti-depressant
14. meditation makes your brain smarter and kinder
15. only works for about 30% of people
16. so, hang out in trees.
17. love of life
18. it’s like why we build a house on the lake
19. walk in nature
    1. decrease blood pressure
    2. nerve activity’
    3. decrease heart rate
20. Food taste better in the outside
21. Health benefits of being in nature
22. how long does the walk in nature relate to real world time.
23. the Use of NK cells
24. plus soil compounds P. 28
25. Evergreen cells can make you feel good and live longer
26. could nature increase our productivity? P. 30
27. Chapter 2 How Many Neuroscientists Does it take to Find a Stinking Milkvetch?
28. Brains are clone for mistakes
29. go to the desert to find nature (just like Jesus)
30. what is the mechanize for the thrill of nature
31. half a day in nature and the neuroscientist was more creative. P. 36
32. study show nature makes you 50% more creative.
33. lots of variable in this study P.37
34. Exercise helps brain cells grow and keeps the brain from cognitive decline. P.37 (Kramer)
35. mental state is all about attention P. 38
36. we are all in a “wired world”
37. nature will prevent us from the digital media
38. we are wired for a social connection P.39
39. nature is for mindfulness p.40
40. Attention is taking control of the mind p.42
41. We have distraction from the digital world
42. your brain tracts 4 things at once P.43
43. nature gives you fewer choices p.43
44. humans have brains affected by social needs p.43-4
45. order of arrow talked about on p. 44
46. we create an environment: artificial environment
47. systems:
48. executives (intellectual)
49. spatial network
50. default (daydreaming) p.46
51. Attention Restoration Theory (ART)
52. lowers our anxiety P. 49-50
53. nature captures your attention p.51-2
54. can nature be a “break” for me? P.54
55. Is nature able to change our brain, or is it just leaving the bad stuff back in the city p. 55
56. brain imagining is important p. 55
57. manipulate the environment p. 55
58. Part 2 Nearby nature: the first Five Minutes p. 57
59. chapter 3 The Smell of Survivsl p. 57
60. talk of forest healing instructor P. 59
61. attempt to medicalize nature p. 59
62. look at the cypress trees
63. stress level test P. 60
64. heart rate monitor all goes into a database for study p. 61
65. talk of forest bathing P.61
66. old trees change your spirit p. 61
67. the smell helps
68. DMZ in Kores is 160 miles long and 2.5 miles wide
69. Soil is also good for cancer
70. It’s a international peace park
71. There are 2.5 million trees in this are P. 63
72. Geosmin causes “funky=great smellc of earth” after a rain P. 63 good for cancer hydrocarbon.

• Geosmin is the smell of survival P. 63
• Jap labs play with: pinene and limonene.  The pinene lowered the blood pressure by 4 points.
• It’s a big effect using hinki oil..
• Use of essential oils to fight skin disease,  mitigate stress (lower cortisol) P. 64

• The author felt more jubilant after the essential oil treatment
• Could depression be an illusion? P. 66
• People learn from nature you can heal!
• Korea has the 14^th best economy.  The people (70%) say their jobs make them depressed.
• South Koreans have the highest suicide rate in the world P. 67 they work 2,193 hours per year on average.
• People are looking at Buddhism.
• Body and soil are one  “shin to bulee”  this was before Confucianism.
• Meditation could be good for you.  So control food and diet.
• Pink makes woman happy!! 😊
• What’s needed now is more data.  How can we share this good news?
• Nothing hits the brains emotional neurons than the powewr of ordor.  This excites  the amygdala for a fight or flight response P. 72
• Wired to the hippocampus.
• The human nose can detect 1 trillion odors
• Women are better smellers.
• We are losing some smell abilities because of our survival P.73
• We are not that sensory.  We have grown dumber after 10,000 years.
• Are brains are being trained
• Nose is a direct path toward your brain
• Nose goes right to the brain…so going to the woods is good??
• Smells can influence your mood P. 76
• Windex is the smell of virtue P. 76
• Aroma therapy is good for the treatment of anxiety P. 77
• Imagination is also a healer P. 77
• Reduction of noise is also an issue
• We all need time in the forest to be happier  P. 81
• Chapter 4 Birdbrain
• Look for the “alpha wave”
• No alpha waves when you are mad
• Noise is a unwanted sound P. 85
• 30,000 aircraft fly overhead everyday.
• FDA thinks a 90% increase in air travel over the next 20 years.
• Background noise is about 30 Db
• Over 80 Db will damage hearing P. 87
• Settle into noise?? P. 88
• Sound is designed to be processed quickly P. 89
• Neurons in the auditory cortex of the brain to fire frequently, it’s a sense we feel throughout our whole body.  P. 90

1. Talk of the woods being quiet or “soothing”
2. Human cause noise actually makes the forrest look worse
3. Testing the authors cortisol level.
4. Think of soundscape as medicine  (it’s like a pill)
5. Sounds are soothing to most.
6. Author was listening to “birdsongs” on her phone????
7. City of Phoenix closes South Park to vehicles for a silent Sunday on day per month
8. Create “daylighting”
9. Sound P. 102 sensitivity to sound.
10. Chapter 5  Box of Rain
11. Drivers are deadly (over 800 car accidents)
12. Author felt “balanced in Nature.
13. Need of fresh air.  Having head to light, just like flowers
14. Study show nature view is good 😊
15. Could nature make us less violent P. 109
16. Need for potted plants:  like for road-rage?  P.110-11
17. Talk about ordered chaos with lungs andneurons
18. Painter was painting in “fracal” P. 112
19. Fracals create chaos
20. Fractal is art
21. Alpha tbrain was looking at fractal evaluated with an EEG
22. Our brain is related to natures fracal
23. Fractal is for visual processing looking at neurons for relaxation
24. This is a stress reliever.
25. Talk about the “blue room” at snake river prison. 118
26. p. 120
27. talk about tech and video games
28. going virtual  reality experience P. 120
29. sky factory (investment guess) xp.

1. colors of red, blue, and green talk about “cones”
2. This helps us find food, makes more vigitent.
3. Pink  makes people less excited (drunk tank pink)
4. Study shows that Blue light makes tremors to subside
5. Nature makes us happy because of a nueral mechanism in our ventral visual pathway thats tuned to a mid-level frequency range.  When its found, happy molecules flow. P. 125

1. Nature  =can elicit fast positive reponses to our brains  P. 126
2. When you star at screens you start to be a non blinker
3. Outdoor light is 10 times brighter! P. 127
4. Chapter 6 P. 131
5. Getting lost in beauty..  the forest
6. To be grateful is good for your health P. 133
7. 95% of Fins work outside, they are also happier
8. They live off the land
9. 70% of land is forests.
10. Free trade:  they can even pick their nose on other peoples property  (P. 135)  Is it a socialistic country …  they like to frolic.
11. Forests increase property value (P. 137)
12. People feel better if they are in a green area (P. 140)
13. Spend 15-45 minute in the greenies
14. 2 to3 days a month will help with depression.  Parks and woodlands are cheap for everyone!
15. Happiness of something about nature (p. 143)
16. Find peace and wellm being (p. 143)
17. Chapter 7  Garden of Hedon  p. 149
18. Underclass in Scotland are “pissed off” for being poor
19. Be in nature, breathing in oxygen, getting away from the desk hugging (P. 151)
20. Exercise is supposed to be good in reference to nature
21. It’s easy to study exercise vs. nature
22. Forrest walkers have lower stress
23. Talk of hike in Scotland (P. 152)
24. Has Roam laws (Scotland)
25. Variuos types of soil
26. Lots of studies (P. 154)
27. Like poor people die before the rich people***
28. Was it green space??
29. Scotland likes salvation of the earth (P. 155)
30. Be part naturalist***
31. Talk of temp. art in the woods (P. 160)
32. Scots have tea and biscotts (P. 160)
33. Nature therapy could be coming again (P. 161)
34. Healing power of nature
35. Like find rocks, plants, water (waves) (P. 162)
36. Are doctors like a machine?  (p. 163)
37. Talk about a medicine garden (p. 163)
38. Scotland people are depressed (P. 164)
39. Garden helps you calm down (p. 164)
40. Swedish has 30/5 of health care goes to mental health (p. 166)
41. The closer you live to the ocean, you need to live by the ccoast.
42. Equation for happiness:  get married, get a job, and live near the coast.  (p. 166)
43. Chapter 8 Rambling On
44. Walk to clear mind, and to think
45. Some meditate only with walking (p. 169)
46. Nature is the nurse, guardian of the heart (p. 179)
47. “Go outside for a walk” P. 173
48. 40 min of walking per day by Kramer (and bursting your creativity)  (60%)
49. Nature testing was done to check memory
50. Nature walking improves memory
51. How do you measure anxiety????  Talk about brain b\parts (scanning)
52. Nature does distract us
53. Nature needs to be shared
54. More time your well-being increases
55. Chapter 9:  Get over yourself
56. We need social interactions (unwired [places)
57. Talk of brain waves measuring  WOW (P. 192)
58. Talk of visual cortex  (close/cutting to our soil) P. 193
59. Talk of prefrontal cortex P. 194
60. Feelings and spirituality just doesn’t spring up from religion they spring from transcending experience in nature.  P. 194
61. Awe blows your mind P. 196
62. Darwin considers empathy or compassion to e the strongest.
63. Awe an the Vegas nerve P. 197
64. Talk about virtual nature P. 199
65. Prefrontal cortex??? P. 200
66. Chapter 10:  Water on the Brain
67. Frank (wilderness) in Idaho wilderness
68. P 206   I don’t like crowds or people
69. Kayaking, nature, fishing helps
70. (214)
71. VA needs to look a nature for a healing place P. 216  Good for mental health
72. Thus, be in a natural situation.
73. Though, most studies are small…little data.   We need better metrics.
74. Trees can teach us that we can not control our lives (P. 218)
75. Chapter 11:  Please Pass  the Hacksaw
76. ADHD youngsters like the outdoors
77. Talk about adaptive learning (P. 226)
78. Let the right prefrontal cortex recharges, it could boost attention for kids (P. 227)
79. Is school bad for some kids? (P. 227)
80. Some drugs take the
81. The are 6.4 million diagnosed kids in America (ADHD) which is an increase of 28% since 2007 (P.228)
82. Need dynamic outdoor living (P. 229)

• 11% of kids (mostly boys) have ADHA.

• 1 in 10 kids have a vitamin D shortage.   (put kids in green environment (P. 234)
• Prefrontal cortex develops neurons (P. 235)
• Human brain like “the outside” (P. 236)
• Chapter 12:  Nature for the rest of us
• What is better worth doing well than planting of trees – Federick Law Olmsted
• In 2008 a majority of the people now live in cities (P. 241)
• This could lead to anxiety (P. 242)  good sci. facts
• We need green spaces
• Need natural places.
• Min of 5 min per month of nature
• Citi in the garden (clean and green)
• Singapore green space is increasing (what’s possible)
• Need air from the nature (filled with antioxidants)
• Celebrate real trees, not fake
• You need water and trees
• Improves health
• Ash bore kills trees also killed local viewers
• Evry tree helps
• Great for Carbon Storage
• Try going to parks and waterways:  like forest
• 1 weekend per month
• This can rearrange our core
• Go outside often…..breath (P. 254)
• You can see poverty from the sky *=(p. 254-5)
• Doctors should sendpatiences to the park
• We need to cone ct people to the parks
• We need to let nature interact with everyone..
• Come to the parks and be happy (P. 255)