Watch out forest bathers, you have competition.
Perhaps better put, you have an addition to your ritual. According to a new study, published in the journal Emotion, one surefire way to improve your mental health is by taking regular 15-minute “awe walks.”
Researchers at the UC San Francisco Memory and Aging Center and the Global Brain Health Institute wanted to see if these
Nature has purifying powers. And although scientists have been unable as of yet to determine exactly how it works, for ages, people have been bathing in… landscapes.
A hot shower after a long day, a refreshing dip in a cold river on a hot midday, or jumping into a mountain stream after a round in a steaming banya; we all unmistakably associate such moments with cleansing, shaking off tension and dirt, and a feeling of rejuvenation. Yet although the ancients believed that only a proper bath could give us the feeling of being completely human, our relationship with cleanliness and water rituals has been bumpy. Following the age of Greek and Roman baths and social bathing ceremonies lasting for hours on end, mediaeval and pre-enlightenment Europe was consistently averse to water and cleanliness. In essence, we have numerous plagues and the industrial revolutions to thank for the universal availability of water faucets, bathtubs and soap. And really, only the last few decades have brought about a clear renaissance in the matter of bathing, providing a new dimension to the notion of cleanliness.
