There are places, like the woods, that make us feel better. Which even seem to have a measurable effect on our physiological parameters. To put it this way, a little poetry is missing, but describing an intuitive concept with data still has its charm, as well as having potentially useful repercussions. Giovanna Borriello, a neurologist, 44 years old – 20 of whom spent dealing with multiple sclerosis – is convinced (and she is not the only one). So much to measure, tables in hand, the effects that a deep and guided contact with nature can have both on former Covid patients who report pulmonary consequences of the infection, and on people with multiple sclerosis.
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“What we are talking about is called forest medicine – he explains Borriello – but let’s clarify immediately that it is not a medical branch, but a type of complementary medicine that comes from Japan, and that in recent years it is spreading also in Europe “. In Japanese this discipline, born from the idea of an immunologist 18 years ago , is called Shinrin-yoku, which literally means “bath in the woods”: “It is not a walk in a wood, it is not a trekking, but a codified method that starts from a scientific rationale and that has already accumulated evidence, so much so that in Scotland it is used in some people with depression, reducing the use of psychotropic drugs “.
The water of the stream and the song of the birds, the sound of nature is good for us
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Borriello approached this discipline during the lockdown, thanks to the school ofItalian association of forest medicine, and his first interest was to experience its effects on his patients. On the other hand, his approach with the people he has had and is treating has never been “canonical”. In the fourth year of specialization at Sapienza University of Rome, as soon as you cross the threshold of the clinic to the Umberto I Polyclinic, she had already decided that she would deal with multiple sclerosis.
“I was 24 and I saw my peers in wheelchairs: thinking that their life would stop there was terrible. So I decided to dedicate myself to them and in 2012 I founded an association. Today the situation is very different: thanks to the grownups advances in medical research and at accredited multidisciplinary centers for multiple sclerosis, we finally have the opportunity to make a real difference in the path of these young people. But we neurologists, alone, do not go far: we need many specialized figures, and they can be very useful also diversified approaches “. Like that of forest medicine? “I think so and that’s what I want to test”, replies Borriello: “Multiple sclerosis is a particular disease, with a broad spectrum of symptoms, different from person to person. Above all, it is a disease that is very much affected by stress and solicitations. external: a business failure, a bereavement, a pregnancy are very delicate moments “.
Welfare
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Treating multiple sclerosis means composing a puzzle of treatments that can change at every stage of life, explains the neurologist. In this panorama, disciplines like it yoga, tai chi, meditation or mindfulness they have already been shown to improve some parameters related to stress, such as the level of cortisol, and are often used in a complementary way to drug therapies. “The principle is the same: it has been seen that coming into contact with certain trees at certain times and the vision of certain colors can lead to deep relaxation and this can, in turn, be beneficial for the patient.”
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There are different levels of “immersion”, from the simplest and shortest (which lasts just two hours) to the most complex and profound. The beauty is that it is not necessary to go far from home: small natural oases suitable for this purpose can also be found in one’s own city. Among the values that improve after a dive are the blood pressure, heart rate, cortisol, blood sugar and even blood oxygenation. Hence the idea of experimenting with this approach in former patients Covid with fibrosis and lung problems, along with some general practitioners and theUniversity of the Foro Italico of Rome, to develop a rehabilitation program for the respiratory function.
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“A few months ago – he says Borriello – I also got sick of Covid, in a quite severe form: I was attached to oxygen for 8 days. Leaving the tunnel I continued to have great breathing difficulties, which I still have in part. When I did my first “dive” I noticed a great benefit, and it was not just a sensation: in 4 hours of diving, the oxygen saturation in the blood had gone from 96% to 100%. In general, we observe changes in all the people who participate. “
The research project on former Covid patients provides a dive cycle of one day per week for six weeks. “Each outing – concludes the neurologist – must take into consideration the characteristics of the group, if people with disabilities or accompanied by caregivers participate, but it is a discipline that everyone can approach”.
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It works: word of Cnr and the Italian Alpine Club
By studying the principles on which it is based, one understands how it is Shinrin-yoku it could only have been born in Japan. Here in Italy we have been talking about it for some years and it is becoming increasingly popular, so much so that it is also of interest to National Research Council (Cnr), which last summer published a book on forest therapy together with the Italian Alpine Club: Forest therapy, the care of Federico Meneguzzo and Francesca Zabini, Italian Alpine Club publisher.
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Among the physiological benefits found there is the normalization of some parameters: effects that do not occur, with the same physical exercise, in cities. According to some studies, it would be a consequence of exposure to natural environments – as well as to particular volatile organic compounds emitted by plants – on the sympathetic nervous activity (which underlies the mechanisms of attack and flight) and parasympathetic (which underlies relaxation).
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