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Unconventional Therapy

After my first 50-mile backpacking trip, I fell in love. Something about the early

mornings and getting on the trail before the sun rises, is unforgettable. Some days are harder than

others, but in the end it is all worth it because I bond with people that have become family over

these experiences. These high adventure trips are a break from the structured, strict life I leave at

home. While outdoors, I have learned skills such as time management, leadership, and basic

organization, that I would not have even considered otherwise.

My relationship with the outdoors began when I was about six years old, when my

mother would take me on hikes in the open space. I remember my boots in the dirt, sweat on my

brow, and sun on my skin. Now fast-forward twelve years, where I enjoy tightening my straps,

and taking off down the trail, not to be seen again until the next trailhead. I’ve led more trips

than I can remember, spanning from two days to twelve, seven miles to seventy-five, through

Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Yosemite National Park, the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range

in New Mexico, and the Sawtooth Range in Idaho.

I can say, without a doubt, that these backpacking trips are the reason why I do not feel

the constant stress and pressure from school my peers report on a daily basis. When in the

backcountry, there comes an indescribable feeling of being at peace with everyone and

everything around you. One of my most memorable experiences was when I was hiking at

around 8:30 in the morning in Idaho, I was completely surrounded by trees for a portion of the

trail until it opened up to a beautiful lake, still as glass. The sun was just peaking over the

mountain pass in the distance, providing just enough light to dance beautifully on the lake.

Everything appeared to come to a standstill, as the pleasant scent of pine lingered, and the

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morning sunlight warmed my face. Or the other trip, where my crew and I were hiking from

Kearsarge Lake to Rae Lakes, in Independence, California. It was late July, and snow was still

very much a problem. To access Rae Lakes you must summit Glen Pass, at about 12,000 feet

elevation. While it was incredibly challenging, there is no better feeling in the world than when

you reach the summit. It is an unbelievable sense of accomplishment, a mix of relief and

contentment, a feeling that truly cannot be put into words. These feelings flooded my body,

washing away all worries and thoughts of life back home. I had no choice but to live in the

moment, take in the view, breathe in the chilly air, and relish in the camaraderie of my friends.

I have not only learned many skills while being in the outdoors, but many lessons too.

Thus I can say I wouldn’t be who I am today if it weren’t for the outdoors. This leads me to ask:

What are the benefits of spending quality time outdoors?

The proposition of spending quality time outside, away from the comforts of home is not

a new idea. Writer and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson first wrote about the importance of

being in nature in his essay “Nature” in 1836. To him, it was for more of a spiritual element than

anything else, as he refers to nature as a “universal being”. He believed there was a spiritual

sense of the natural world around him, and that the aspect of nature is devout. Emerson was also

the leading contributor to the idea of transcendentalism, and the final transcendental value is

divinity of nature. The belief behind this, is that nature is sacred, and that it is imperative for

individuals to connect with nature.

Many people have the desire to be in nature, whether to escape from a busy and over

stimulating life, for stress relief, or just to enjoy the peacefulness and quiet it provides. Murray

Joseph, an outdoor enthusiast and entrepreneur of Murray Joseph and Associates completely

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agrees. During an interview with Joseph he explained what motivates him to spend time

outdoors, “For my sanity. You get caught up in things around here, your daily activities, going to

work. Going outdoors, and especially up into the mountains is kind of like my happy place, you

can relieve all kinds of stress. Not only that, but it does bring a sense of my history, good

memories as a child, and just a lot of freedom too.” Finding a happy place is something everyone

experiences, and is somewhere to return to when life gets too hectic to keep up.

Discussing the perks of spending more time outdoors, Willie Smith-Carlile, a teacher of

Biology and AP Environmental Science at Northgate High School, describes:

It’s relaxing, there is a decrease in blood pressure, and I get fresh air and sunlight. There

are plenty of health benefits that are easily measurable. Also just relaxing is something I

think a lot of people need, and not having the walls around you, and feeling the open

space is essential. It is also often times just getting away from those sounds, I think

there’s the benefit of your mind not getting distracted, and not focusing on the stuff that

fills our heads daily.

Smith-Carlile expressed his favorite part of getting outside as being completely immersed where

he is, “Listening to the sounds, smells, and not thinking about other stuff.” Smith-Carlile also

spoke about how he brings his kids outside with him, “I try to show my kids the fun of going

outside, and checking it out together. Young kids ask a lot of questions, and I enjoy answering

them, pointing things out to them.”

Medical and health benefits are some of the most common areas where results are seen,

from spending time outdoors. Coming from Chiba University in Chiba, Japan, leading his team

from the Health and Field Sciences Department is Y. Miyazaki. Miyazaki conducted experiments

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involving over 400 subjects at 35 different forests throughout Japan. In his research, Miyazaki

found that after time spent in natural settings, subjects showed a 1.4% decrease in systolic blood

pressure, 5.8% decrease in heart rate, and 55% increase in parasympathetic nerve activity,

indicating a relaxed state. Also, natural killer cell activity (an indicator of immune function)

increased by 56% on the second day, and an increase of 23% was maintained for a month after

subjects had returned to urban life (Miyazaki). Besides the obvious increase in relaxation,

decreased blood pressure and heart rate is something that many people can benefit from,

especially those individuals suffering from obesity or other similar medical issues.

Another form of relaxation while being in nature is shinrin-yoku. Shinrin-yoku is a

Japanese phrase that translates to “forest bathing”, or “taking in the forest atmosphere.”

Developed in the 1980s in Japan, forest bathing is used as a method of preventive health care and

healing. The idea is that someone visits a natural area and relaxes, then restorative, rejuvenating,

and calming benefits are to be achieved. The benefits from regular forest bathing are endless;

improved energy levels and sleep, accelerated recovery from illness, improved mood, and

increased ability to focus, especially in children with ADHD (Shinrin-Yoku). A study was

conducted in the Zhejiang Province in China, by researcher X. Mao. Mao separated twenty male

students into two groups, and sent one group on a two-night trip to an evergreen forest, and the

other group to a city area. He found that subjects exposed to the forested area showed reduced

oxidative stress, as well as decreased malondialdehyde, interleukin-6, and other tumor necrosis

factors compared to the urban group. Tumor necrosis factors are cell signaling proteins involving

systemic inflammation (Mao). Actions as simple as a walk through the park is enough to achieve

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the calming benefits of shinrin-yoku, but people across the United States are just not aware of the

uses and gains from spending time outdoors.

To answer this, Joseph explains why people don’t like spending time outdoors, and why

some shelter themselves inside. Joseph describes that “The number one thing is they’ve never

been exposed to it before, and number two is I think they’re not comfortable doing it, so they

might be a little intimidated.” He pointed out that if you don’t know, or have never been exposed

to the outdoors, you wouldn’t even know it was there. Joseph went on to say that “It’s

intimidating being out in the wilderness, cooking your own food, being responsible for people,

and it’s intimidating when you’re not exactly sure how things work, and making sure everyone’s

safe. I think a lot of it has to do with the exposure, they just haven’t been exposed to it. Most of

the time, I think once someone does go, it’s hard to go back after seeing the nature out there.”

This is similar and reminiscent of a quote from John Muir, “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken,

over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home.

Wilderness is a necessity.” Once out in the wilderness, it is undoubtedly difficult to go back.

Although it is addicting to spend time outdoors and be outside, the amount of people

actually doing it is declining. Adults and children are spending more time interacting with

technology, and less with nature. People tend to think that technology will be the solution to

most of their problems. While this may be partially true, the impact of nature on higher-level

tasks such as creative problem solving has not been explored. The environment plays such a

critical role in the way people think and behave. In her study, author Ruth Ann Atchley found

that participants who spent four days exposed to nature showed a 50% increase in creative

reasoning compared to those participants who remained in an urban environment (Atchley).

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Technology may facilitate many people's lives, but the importance of the outdoors must also not

be forgotten.

Being outdoors also includes many psychological benefits. Ethan Kross, Professor of

Psychology at the University of Michigan, conducted a study where he asked 20 individuals

diagnosed with MDD (major depressive disorder) to participate. Kross took them on a 50 minute

walk in a natural setting, then observed their mood and tested their short term memory. A week

later, he repeated the process. Kross found significant increases in memory span after the natural

walk, along with increased mood, compared to the urban walk (Kross). Not only do the outdoors

have a positive impact on those with MDD, they benefit everyone. Nature is filled with

intriguing stimuli, which modestly grabs attention in a bottom-up fashion, allowing top-down

direction-attention abilities a chance to replenish. Unlike natural environments, urban settings are

rich with stimuli that dramatically capture your attention, but also require additional directed

attention. This makes urban environments far less restorative (Berman).

Besides all of the incredible medical and psychological benefits of spending time

outdoors, there are also countless practical skills. When backpacking for example, there are

numerous things to be learned. Self-discipline is learned because there will always be a

temptation to stop, take your pack off, maybe loosen your boots, and rest. It is up to you to deny

that temptation, not let down the group, and continue on the trail. After a long time spent

outdoors, you tend to get a lot of quiet time to yourself. This quiet time is incredibly comforting.

There are no distractions, and you are left with nothing but your own reflection and

self-contemplation. Clarity and wisdom in decision making comes naturally when in this state,

and everything in life seems to just fall into place. Going back to backpacking (pun intended),

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you also learn skills including problem solving and goal-setting. There are always inevitable

complications or issues with everything, and just like what your mother told you, nothing is

perfect and life isn’t fair. While that may be a reality, what is also true (and what matters) is

problem-solving and how you deal with it. This holds true in backpacking. When something

happens, it is up to you to deal with it, and sometimes in the quickest way possible. For example,

if the weather is perfectly clear and five minutes later it starts pouring rain with thunder and

lightning, you would need to think and act swiftly to deal with it. Or, if you are cooking dinner

and your stove’s fuel line bursts into flames, you would need to rapidly handle the situation,

while not alarming everyone in your group. These are situations and scenarios that are present in

almost every trek, that build leadership, character, and efficient problem-solving skills. Finally,

you may learn goal-setting while in the backcountry. Goal-setting is something used throughout

your whole life whether it be for personal reasons, with your career, or with a learned skill.

When you set a goal to summit a mountain it is a lofty goal, and you will succeed or fail. It is

difficult to think of summiting, so you break it down into small goals. You hike till the next turn

or switchback, and eventually reach the top. These are lifelong skills, that are applicable in real

life (Cooney).

A fantastic non-fiction journal that pertains to this topic is ​Into the Wild​, by Jon

Krakauer. Tracing the accounts of a man by the name of Christopher McCandless, it is an epic,

tragic story. While most of the novel traces the story of McCandless’ abruptly short life, there are

portions where Krakauer gives his input and backstory, “If something captured my undisciplined

imagination, I pursued it with a zeal bordering on obsession, and from the age of seventeen until

my late twenties that something was mountain climbing” (134). Krakauer brilliantly describes

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the desire to be outside, and especially after being bullied by his father as a youth, Krakauer’s

release from the stress of daily life was mountain climbing. In the true story however,

McCandless sells all his possessions, gives his savings account to charity, and heads into the

Alaskan wilderness alone with nothing but the clothes on his back, a ten pound bag of rice, a

hunting rifle, and a book on local plant species. He was then found dead in the Alaskan

wilderness, laying in an old abandoned bus, with cause of death being starvation. McCandless

was in search of something that many people today are as well, whether they know it or not, and

that something is exploring a life uncharted and free. He searched for a life without

responsibility, worries, and expectation, and that is something that all of us have pondered at

least once in our life (Brewood).

With this being said, there are countless benefits and positive impacts from spending time

in, and living our lives outdoors. It exposes you to new ideas, places, and things you never would

have experienced otherwise, all while getting you out of your daily routine. Getting outside also

has incredible medical benefits, including lowering blood pressure, heart rate, and improving

mood and memory. And while it may be intimidating at times to leave the comforts of your

home, most find it well worth it and do not want to leave once they have gotten outside. It also

positively affects those individuals suffering from depression, and those around them.

Additionally, the practical lifelong skills learned from backpacking and being outside are

invaluable. The values you pick up along the trail will stick with you for the rest of your life, and

will aid you in every capacity. From my senior project, I am now planning on minoring in an

outdoor educational field, and bringing the values that have made me who I am today, with me

wherever I go. Now that you have the information, I challenge you to go live a life outdoors.

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Works Cited

Atchley, Ruth Ann. “Creativity in the Wild: Improving Creative Reasoning through Immersion

in Natural Settings.” ​PLOS ONE​, Public Library of Science, December 2012,

journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%Journal.pone.0051474.

Berman, Marc G. “With a Clean Conscience: Cleanliness Reduces the Severity of Moral

Judgments.” ​Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency,​ December 2008,

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02225.x.

Brewood, Victoria. “Review: Into The Wild, The Story Of Chris McCandless.” ​Pommie Travels​,

January 2016, https://www.pommietravels.com/review-into-the-wild/.

Cooney, Mike. “7 Life Skills You Learn from Backpacking.” ​Mike Cooney Creative,​ 2017,

https://mikecooney.net/life-skills-learn-backpacking/

Joseph, Murray. Owner of Murray Joseph and Associates. Personal Interview. 27 February 2019.

Krakauer, Jon. ​Into the Wild.​ Picador, 2018.

Kross, Ethan. “Interacting with Nature Improves Cognition and Affect for Individuals with

Depression.” ​ScienceDirect​, November 2012,

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032712002005?via%3Dihub.

Mao, X. “Effects of Short-Term Forest Bathing on Human Health in a Broad-Leaved Evergreen

Forest in Zhejiang Province, China.” ​Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports​, U.S.

National Library of Medicine, June 2012, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22840583.

Miyazaki, Y. “Preventive Medical Effects of Nature Therapy.” ​Current Neurology and

Neuroscience Reports,​ U.S. National Library of Medicine, September 2011,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21996763.

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“Shinrin-Yoku Forest Medicine.” ​Shinrin-Yoku: the Medicine of Being in the Forest​,

www.shinrin-yoku.org/shinrin-yoku.html.

Smith-Carlile, Willie. Biology and AP Environmental Science Teacher. Personal Interview. 19

April 2019.

Works Consulted

Hartig, Terry. “Restorative Effects of Natural Environment Experiences.” ​Journal of Research in

Crime and Delinquency,​ 1 Jan. 1991,

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916591231001.

Kaplan, Stephen. “The Restorative Benefits of Nature: Toward an Integrative Framework.”

NeuroImage,​ Academic Press, 20 May 2004,

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0272494495900012.

Taylor, Andrea. “Children With Attention De​ficits Concentrate Better After Walk in the Park.”

Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency,​ 2009,

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1087054708323000.

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