Half An Hour Of This Activity Protects Your Immunity For Two Months!

Walking in to the woods at least once in your life, everyone enjoyed the beauty of nature. 

That is why some people choose to live in the woods or next to them and why other people travel thousands of miles to walk in the Redwood forests, the Costa Rica or Ecuador forests.

However, scientists from Japan have discovered that the tradition called Shinri-kooku or "bathing in the woods" is still strong, and why that is so, the reasons are biochemical.

Namely, researchers have found that a stay in the forest improves natural immunity, which is important for the prevention of cancer and other chronic diseases.

How does it happen?

When the researchers tested people before and after a two-hour walk in the woods, they found at all, except for one person, 50% and they had more T-cells. They had lower blood pressure, felt the calmness and clarity in mind.

Forest trees and plants emit in the environment "antimicrobial volatile organic compounds of plant derivatives, called phytoneids, to eradicate fungi and bacteria". Fungus and bacteria may be a problem for our immune system, and it turns out that no trees like them.

Forest trees are often hundreds, if not thousands of years old. Trees and other plants have perfected protection, ie compounds that can kill fungus and bacteria. When you walk by the forest, your breath is united with these components. The effect lasts about 2 months.

Let's say, when we walk into the woods we bathe in its natural immunity. We are immersed in the "phytochemical" immune system of the forest.

Professor King Li of the Department of Hygiene and Public Health at the Nipon Medical School in Tokyo, presented this story to American Lenny Phillips writer.

The article provides more precise information on effects on specific hormones, including the effects of norepinephrine and DHEA on stress and adiponectin. Namely, a lower level of adiponectin is associated with Type 2 diabetes and obesity.

The study was published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology