Six Star Magazine Six Star Magazine Spring/Summer 2019 | Page 37

The Japanese government is also investing in research into the health benefits of forest bathing.
One such study, conducted in 2005, encompassed field experiments in 24 forests across Japan with 12
subjects per forest. All of the volunteers for the study were male university students in their early-20s,
none of whom reported any prior health disorders. The volunteers were divided into two groups—one
group walked in an urban area, while the other was sent to a forested area.
Following these visits, the students’ vital signs were measured. The results showed that those students
who visited the forest environment had lower pulse rates, lower blood pressure, greater parasympathetic
nerve activity and lower sympathetic nerve activity. While this was just one study, the results were
profound enough to trigger more research into the new field of “forest medicine”—the study of trees
and their role in a proactive approach to health.
One person who needs no convincing as to the importance of trees is Diana Beresford-Kroeger.
She’s an internationally acclaimed botanist, medical biochemist and author. Her books include
The Global Forest, The Sweetness of a Simple Life and A Garden for Life. Later this year, she will
publish another book entitled To Speak for the Trees. In 2011, she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal
Geographical Society of Canada; five years later, the organization named her one of the most important
female explorers in this country.
“Walk into the bath, walk slowly in and around the bath,” Diana responds when asked how the novice
forest bather should get started. “Hold the air in the lower parts of your lungs—for this, you need to
stand up straight. This allows the aerosols to circulate in the lower regions of your lungs, go into the
blood stream and go into the policing system of your blood.”
In 2016, she starred in Call of the Forest: The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees, a film based on her writing.
The film documents her travels to some of the most important forested areas in the world: the boreal
forest in Canada, the redwood forest in California, and the sacred sugi and cedar forests in Japan. At
one point, she even tours the world’s smallest forest, situated in the very heart of Tokyo.
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