We Are Experiencing An Atrophy of the Senses
As we continue the largest migration towards the indoors in our history, we have also never been more ill, more isolated, more anxious, more depressed, more unwell. We have completely removed nature from our daily lives while it is what our bodies and brains crave and need just to survive and more importantly to thrive.
"One 2011 study from the Journal of Happiness Studies found that psychological health is linked to nature relatedness (NR). According to the study, “changes in NR mediate the relationship between environmental education and changes in vitality.” This study built upon a previous one from the same journal that cemented the connection between biophilia and mental health. This earlier study posited that the cultural and technological changes brought about by industrialization have caused negative psychological effects. The corollary, then, is that biophilic design can assist in remedying these drawbacks". (paragraph from Terra Mai)
We are spending more money than ever before on our wellness practices. We go to the gym or classes, we are eating food made just for us, we are going to conferences, reading books, we are meditating. While these practices are great, we are still doing everything indoors. We remain separate from the very thing that we as humans need to be a part of, nature. We are using apps to calm our minds yet still struggle to make time to go for a walk in nature to activate our senses. We are living in a time of an actual atrophy of the senses. We are not touching or smelling or seeing things in the natural world like we did just 20 - 25 years ago.
If you knew that 20 minutes a day outside could act as brain food and benefit your heart, boost your immune system as well as activate your creative juices, would you do it? How can we not? What's even more important is that we know we can't go back so how do we make a change moving forward? Biophila and biophilic design and implementation and education to more on the importance of it. We must continue to implement biophila in our homes, our offices, our schools, our hospitals, and so on. This is much more than a plant on the desk. This is understanding the need of sunlight every day ( for our circadian health ), proper air ventilation and purification systems ( such as Pure Wellness / Intellipure ), the fabrics we are using in our homes, and so much more.
The more we understand the importance of the wellness in space as it pertains to its nature components, the better off and more well we will become. This does not mean that it will replace spending the 20 minutes a day outside, it is in addition to for us to thrive.