Let's begin our journey into the world of “Vitamin N” – where N doesn’t stand for “Nothing,” but for “Nature”! Imagine receiving a prescription from your doctor, not for a pill or medication, but to spend time outdoors, surrounded by the beauty of the natural world. This is the natural healthcare service: treatments that nourish not only our bodies but also our minds. Let’s discover together how “Vitamin N” can become a valuable ally for better health and long-lasting well-being.
We start with a quote written by American ecologist Stephen R. Kellert in 1993, who proclaimed “a human dependency on Nature that extends far beyond simple matters of material and physical sustenance, embracing also the human desire for meaning and aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive, and even spiritual satisfaction.” This is the essence of the biophilia hypothesis formulated by Kellert together with renowned biologist Edward O. Wilson in their eponymous book. Nature is not only a source of inspiration and wonder but also a crucial element for our psychophysical and cognitive well-being.
Numerous scientific studies have amply demonstrated that exposure to Nature has significant mental health benefits. Spending time outdoors can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, improving our overall mood. Furthermore, Nature allows us to restore our attention and reduce levels of tension and fatigue.
But Nature’s positive effects are not limited to the mental sphere. Exposure to Nature can also have physical benefits, such as lowering blood pressure, reducing cortisol levels (the stress hormone), strengthening the immune system, and improving overall cardiovascular health. Spending time outdoors can encourage a more active lifestyle, promoting daily steps, physical exercise, and vitality in general.
In addition to psychological and physical benefits, Nature also plays an important role in enhancing our cognitive abilities. Natural environments offer a variety of sensory stimuli that can improve concentration, creativity, and problem-solving skills.
Logically, we should actively seek to spend as much time as possible in natural environments (wilderness) to enjoy its benefits for our overall well-being.
This awareness has become of fundamental importance in the modern world, as more and more people spend most of their time in urban and indoor environments, moving between home, office, and cars, often with negative consequences. Urbanization and a sedentary lifestyle have led to a significant increase in serious disorders like anxiety, depression, and obesity, especially among young people.
A key element in trying to alleviate or solve these issues is the so-called 'Nature prescription,' an innovative concept that is gaining traction in the healthcare sector in many countries. This type of prescription encourages people to spend time outdoors, immersed in Nature. Initiatives, such as Park Rx America and Walk With a Doc in the United States and PaRx, launched by Dr. Melissa Lem in Canada, are promoting this idea, encouraging doctors to prescribe outdoor activities such as national park walks or bird watching to address various physical and mental disorders. In Scotland, doctors have been able to prescribe a "dose of Nature" for several years to improve their patients' well-being. On the Shetland Islands, they are even authorized to prescribe true immersion in Nature and outdoor activities. These programs are targeted at people who need to lower blood pressure, combat issues like anxiety, diabetes, stress, heart disease, and other problems.
Forest therapy, forest bathing, or “shinrin-yoku” in Japanese, is certainly one of the important forerunners of beneficial Nature prescriptions and has become a global phenomenon. This practice consists of consciously immersing oneself in the forest, embracing the peace and beauty of the surrounding natural environment. Scientific studies have shown that forest therapy can lower cortisol, reduce blood pressure, and improve sleep. In the 1980s, Japanese immunologist Qing Li and physician Yoshifumi Miyazaki conducted research demonstrating how contact with Nature, particularly with trees, is extremely effective in promoting health and strengthening the immune system. Their studies highlighted a range of benefits, including calmness, muscle relaxation, anti-inflammatory effects, pain relief, antibacterial protection, antiviral protection, and more. These effects are attributed to volatile substances emitted by plants, known as B-VOCs (biogenic volatile organic compounds).
Doctors in New Zealand were among the first to prescribe "green prescriptions" in the late 1990s, and this practice has become a well-established part of the government’s healthcare offering.
In Italy, green prescriptions also exist but are still not widely known. Also referred to as ecological prescriptions or natural prescriptions, these therapies aim to promote individual contact with Nature to improve well-being without resorting to drugs. Green prescriptions also represent a crucial opportunity to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare, as well as to protect and restore healthy natural environments. Moreover, they contribute to combating climate change and biodiversity loss, factors that, in turn, contribute to chronic conditions observed in many patients.
For completeness, we borrowed the term ‘Vitamin N’ from the prominent journalist and science communicator Richard Louv and the title of his book published in 2016, “Vitamin N - 500 ways to enrich the health and happiness of your family and community” (in Italian: Vitamina N - 500 modi per arricchire la salute e la felicità della tua famiglia e della comunità), a collection of Nature tips and actions to (re)connect individuals with the natural world to combat the ‘Nature-Deficit Disorder’ he described in a more well-known book from 2005 titled "Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder" (in Italian: L'ultimo bambino nei boschi: Salvare i nostri bambini dal disturbo da deficit di Natura).
