"According to recent studies, repeated exposure to nature is a key defense mechanism against immune-mediated diseases."
Great news, right? What does it practically mean, though? Should you head to 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 of these have become increasingly prevalent in recent decades.
The famously wise "old folk" have been rambling for years that there were no such diseases in the past. Or if there were, they were rare. Their ramblings have escalated into fervent sermons, where school journeys were undertaken barefoot or skiing for tens of kilometers in cracking frost, and summers were spent crafting stick animals, dirt between the teeth and all.
In contemporary terms, they were exposed to various soil bacteria day after day, practically immersed in nature from eyebrows to toenails.
The younger generation has politely chuckled at these stories, developing a rash from the old tales. They have pulled their hoods deeper and immersed themselves in the digital world. Plus, into oversized corner sofas.
Research results are on the side of the old folks. When exposed to nature in a diverse and daily manner from infancy, the body developed a smart immune system. The body's defense system recognized the good guys and repelled the bad ones. As living standards rose, microbial poverty struck, the body got confused, and it started to fight against its own tissues. The concrete jungle did not offer the essential mud wrestling.
Is the game lost if one has lived life in the city? If encounters with nature have been occasional and cautious? If it's been ages since infancy, or if the baby has been taken to music class instead of the woods?
No worries, that too has been researched. Just two weeks of nature exposure can improve the microbial diversity of a city dweller.
No time? Unable? Unwilling? Incapable? No worries even then; restoring the lost connection to nature is now a commodity.
The ADELE ecosystem project of the Universities of Helsinki and Tampere recently announced its aim to make daily nature exposure available through consumer products in the future. That future is already here.
On October 15th, it was revealed that the Finnish company Uute Scientific Ltd's Reconnecting Nature™ microbiome extract has been added to the latest natural cosmetics products of Luonkos Finland Ltd, based in Naantali.
In other words, by taking care of your skin, you can take care of your whole body. Easily, effectively, ecologically.
Even the corner sofa is in on it.
