"Based on recent research, repeated exposure to nature is a key protective mechanism against immune-mediated diseases."
That's great. Sounds good. What does it mean in practice? Do I have to go into the forest?
At its core is health. In this context, its enemies are immune-mediated diseases, including allergies, asthma, rheumatism, type 1 diabetes, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease. All afflictions that have become more common in recent decades.
The notoriously wise "old folk" have been harping for years that such diseases didn't exist before. Or they did, but rarely. These ramblings have escalated into sermons about running to school without shoes or skiing dozens of kilometers in freezing cold and whittling stick figures in the summer, with dirt crunching between their teeth.
In modern terms, they were exposed to various soil bacteria day after day. They were exposed to nature from their eyebrows to their toenails.
The younger generation has politely chuckled and developed a rash from the incessant chatter. They've pulled their hoods deeper and immersed themselves in digital life. Plus, an oversized corner sofa.
The research findings are on the side of the old folk. When exposed to nature diversely and daily from infancy, the body developed a smart immune system. The body's defense system recognized the good guys and the bad guys, repelling the latter. As the standard of living rose, microbial poverty struck, the body got confused, and began to fight even its own tissues. The concrete jungle did not offer vital mud wrestling.
Is the game lost if one has lived life in the city? If nature excursions have been occasional and cautious? If infancy is already an eternity ago? Or if the baby has been taken to music class, not the forest?
No worries, that too has been researched. Even two weeks of nature exposure can improve the microbial diversity of a city dweller.
No time? Unable? Unwilling? Incapable? No worries then either; restoring the lost connection to nature is already a consumer product.
The ADELE ecosystem project by the Universities of Helsinki and Tampere was recently reported to aim for daily nature exposure to be available in consumer products in the future. That future is already here.
On October 15th, it was announced that the Finnish company Uute Scientific Oy's Reconnecting Nature™ microbial extract has been added to the latest natural cosmetic products of Luonkos Finland Oy from Naantali.
In other words, by taking care of one's skin, one can take care of the whole body. Easily, effectively, ecologically.
Even the corner sofa is buzzing with excitement.
