The Case for Upward Gazing
Sometime last spring, I remembered a podcast episode (that for the life of me I cannot track back) that talked about how our moods improve from simply looking at trees. So I started going on daily walks to the park. Perhaps with a tinge of a placebo, I started noticing an almost immediate release. Enter the park. Look up at trees. Take in their beauty. Feel wonder and awe. Everything else fell away. All rumination hit pause. "Magic" - I thought.
Until I started googling. What's the relationship between nature and mental health? Turns out, plenty of research supports the idea that natural environments have a healing effect on mental disorders. From anxiety disorders to depression, and even suicidal behaviors.
Oscar Wilde's definition of nature: "A place where birds fly around uncooked"
The growing evidence that nature provides reliable mental health benefits is driving change in healthcare systems. In New Zealand, doctors prescribe nature exposure, before more conventional treatments for depression. One study shows that the combination of nature exposure and physical activity (running, exercising, doing yoga) produces greater benefits than either of the two separately.
But there are some significant challenges with those studies. Small samples. Self-reported assessments. Lack of controls for variables (e.g. social interaction, seasonal variations, weather, etc.). Plenty to be skeptical about.
And none of that research gets at the heart of why there seems to be a correlation. So I kept digging further. And I am happy to report that I’ve found my answer in… Sand dunes. Rivers. Lightning bolts. The human nervous system. Pollock’s paintings.
All have one thing in common.
They're all fractals. Fractals are a special form of a geometric equation. These particular equations show up as repetition patterns that nest inside each other. The exact same shape appears, no matter how zoomed in or zoomed out you may be. The veins in the leaves resemble the branches, which resemble the tree itself.
Human bodies are all made up of fractals too. Our lungs, our veins, our nerves - all fractals. The body distributes the blood in a fractal visualization. Some scientists are suggesting that our brains may be fractals too.
“Nature has chosen fractals to be its basic building block.”
Richard Taylor, Professor of Physics at the University of Oregon
Over a series of interconnected studies, researchers have found that looking at fractals can lower stress levels by up to 60 percent. Best part - the effect is immediate and it doesn’t require sustained focus. The effect was replicated across different measurement modalities, including electrograms of brain waves, magnetic resonance, skin temperature, and sweat.
Some scientists explain that nature is the default environment for humans. We were surrounded by fractals, before we built up concrete walls around us. Nature is where we belong. The calming effect of nature comes from centuries of habituation.
Another somewhat bonkers, but compelling hypothesis suggests that fractals reduce stress because our eyes use a search pattern that itself is fractal. It’s a form of mimicry built into the nervous system that calms the system down.
“Your visual system is (...) hardwired to understand fractals. The stress-reduction is triggered by a physiological resonance that occurs when the fractal structure of the eye matches that of the fractal image being viewed.”
Richard Taylor, Professor of Physics at the University of Oregon
The brain activity while looking at these patterns showed a particularly interesting interplay. One part of the brain goes into attentiveness, arousal, and hyperactivity. The other part of the brain goes into a relaxed state. The combination of this complex dynamic creates a wakefully relaxed state.
Rings a bell? The same thing happens in our brains when we’ve mastered the practice of meditation. Learning to meditate is actually pretty damn hard. Getting to a park or a forest or a waterfront - in comparison - really isn’t.
The Practice
Think back to the last time you were in a natural environment.
Think back to the last time you took in the beauty of the natural world around you.
Think back to the last time you didn't have your phone on you, when out and about in nature.
How do you feel about your answers?
Is there room to bring more nature into focus, in your life?
“We suffer from an epidemic dislocation from the outdoors.”
Florence Williams “Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative"
Could you start with a daily tree gazing at your local coffee shop while consuming your “anxiety in a cup”? Maybe you can level up to a weekly trip to a local park to stare at trees?
On my end, I’ve made it a morning ritual to head to the park. It’s now become a patellar reflex to look up whenever I'm walking down tree-lined streets. If you ever see a mad-looking-but-weirdly-serene woman in Brooklyn who wanders around with her gaze up high - stop me and say hi.
If you enjoyed this piece - I’d love it if you hit reply to tell me what resonated and what didn’t. Thank you for being here and ambling along with me.