Forest bathing

[razz]

Have you heard or actually exercised forest bathing as a health activity? My late DH and I always found that we felt so much better after our walks in our woods or earlier in local conservation centres. I think it is a positive thing to give oneself on a regular basis. My friend and I do dog walks on woodsy trails and these are refreshing rather than tiring.

http://thespec.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx?noredirect=true

[Ultralight]

Forest bathing=Lyme Disease. Be careful!

[Williamsmith]

I stay on the rails to trails path and don't stray too far off because of the real threat of Lyme disease. I have a friend who has been severely debilitated from the tick which carries the disease. And I have removed them from myself on two occasions. But I understand the point OP was making. Nature is healing.

[JaneV2.0]

We have very little Lyme disease in the PNW-and I generally cover up anyway-but I understand the deer tick is a tiny little beastie, the size of a poppy seed. If you're lucky (?), you get the bull's-eye rash. At any rate, there is no shortage of forests around here, including one right down the street from me. I should visit it more often...

You could combine forest bathing with "grounding, " in which you plant your naked feet in dirt for a period each day. Probably also good for the sole...;)

[KayLR]

I have done this, I guess, for years, not knowing it was "a thing."

[Ultralight]

I stay on the rails to trails path and don't stray too far off because of the real threat of Lyme disease. I have a friend who has been severely debilitated from the tick which carries the disease. And I have removed them from myself on two occasions.

In PA you better be super careful.

The PNW has much less Lyme Disease than our neck of the woods.

[Rogar]

I take nature walks pretty often. I think there is something meditative to the walking rhythm that is better away from distractions, whether it's in a local park or a wilderness excursion. I think the thing that sets "forest bathing" apart from just a walk or hike is the slow contemplative pace. It seems like the hikers and walkers I see are on some sort of mission to set a speed record and get their aerobic level up, but miss a lot and don't seem to just sit for a rest and enjoy the day. I like to take an apple or snack along for a break on nearly every walk.

Fortunately we don't have much Lyme disease here, although we do have a different variety of ticks that is less health threatening (although they do give me the heebie-jeebies). It would be very strange to me to live close to the woods but never being able to walk in them fearing some serious ailment. We do have rattlesnakes and every year a few people die from West Nile every year. I guess Lewis and Clark didn't have Lyme and West Nile back in their time. I suppose tick season is only during the warm months and I actually consider the cooler months or winter the best for walking.

[catherine]

Hmmm... I don't forest bathe although the idea of it sounds awesome. I also wish I did more nature-communing than I do. Last week I went tubing after a hike up in VT with my daughter and it was so wonderful. So I'm disappointed to hear all these concerns and caveats about Lyme disease.

I looked up my county's incidence of Lyme disease and it was less than 2,000 cases. My county's population is almost 600k people. So that means my chances of getting Lyme disease are pretty thin. Granted, those statistics don't take into account the numbers of people that forest bathe and then subsequently get Lyme disease, but it just makes me kind of sad that "doin' what comes naturally" comes with such a price. Maybe the price isn't as bad as the price of just going home and vegging out in front of the TV.

[Williamsmith]

Our tick infestation is directly related to our burgeoning deer herd. For many reasons both political and economical....the deer herd is more or less managed for the economic impact of hunters spending huge sums of money for licensing, sporting equipment, butchering and taxidermy.

Despite the impact on the insurance industry due to car/deer accidents, resistance to thinning the herd by hunting lobbyists keeps reasonable management from occurring. You can't drive at night anywhere in this state without the real danger of hitting a whitetail. Ticks love to infest the whitetail deer and often transfer to tall grass where any traveler might pick it up.

Hunters expose themselves to ticks during the field dressing process and handling of the deer carcass. Many of our state parks have a deer population with a serious tick infestation. And these are areas where naturalists, hikers and explorers congregate.

[Rogar]

I would not want to distract from the OP, but I've been amazed at the technology behind genetic modification beyond food production. This article is an example of how an insect host of a human pathogen might be genetically controlled. I don't think it's there yet, but a possible cure or environmental nightmare for things like West Nile or Lyme somewhere down the road. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/04/genetically-modified-mosquitoes-zika/479793/