Welcome back to Reading the Research, where I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects, then discuss it in brief with bits from my own life, research, and observations.
Today's article presents a relatively simple way to de-stress. Though admittedly, it does rather depend on your proximity to a public park or some other form of reasonably-friendly nature. 20-30 minutes of time spent enjoying nature drops your stress levels, according to this study. You do have to put down your phone/book/conversation with other people, though.
I was somewhat bemused at the repeated use of the term "nature-pill," when talking about this type of therapy. Only in the US, hopefully, is the myopic focus on pharmaceuticals so intent that alternatives have to be referred to in similar terms.
I have mixed feelings on this study. On one hand, sitting in sunshine for that free vitamin D is a thing I've been known to do. On the other hand, bugs crawling onto my skin, buzzing in my ears, or even biting me, and thus driving me nuts, is very much a thing. I have sensory sensitivities, including an oversensitivity to touch. I now live in a US state where there's usually a bit of wind, which helps blow most aerial bugs away, but that wasn't the case in the past. As a result, I have limited patience for being one with nature.
The closest thing I have to having this in my schedule is going biking, I guess. There are a couple nature-ish bike trails near my house, one of which is the result of the Rails-to-Trails program. As such, it goes directly through a forested area. Chipmunks, squirrels, and various wild birds are common sights. The speed of the bicycle keeps all but the most lucky/unlucky bugs from making contact with my skin (though those naturally end up in my face...). It also keeps me from feeling like I need to make conversation with the other people on the trail, which is a very nice bonus.
I guess this kind of thing is kind of why I wanted a sunroom in my dream house. Nature without the bugs. I had one in my first childhood home, and while it got quite cold in winter, I did enjoy being in there sometimes. I'm not sure it'd count for purposes of this study/effect or not, though.
Either way, this is worth trying if you have a park, forest, or nice back yard nearby, and a wound up child or self.
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(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter, which has links and brief comments on studies that were interesting, but didn't get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
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