Why sitting around a campfire might be the therapy session you didn't know you needed
Between the light, heat and crackling sound, sitting around a campfire can be a relaxing experience — and experts agree that it can even benefit your mental health.
Research published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology has noted "significant reductions" in blood pressure associated with exposure to a crackling fire.
Campfires or firepits can also improve social interactions, researchers noted.
M. David Rudd, Ph.D., professor of psychology and director of the Rudd Institute for Veteran and Military Suicide Prevention at the University of Memphis, agreed that the natural setting of campfires is "likely effective" for soothing the mind and engaging with others.
People sitting around a fire are "digitally disconnected" and isolated from technology distractions and the demands of daily life, the expert noted.
"The context is disarming and socially engaged by its very nature, generating implicit expectations of engagement and interaction," Rudd told Fox News Digital in an interview.
"We all have memories of being around a campfire and hearing stories — or at least we've heard stories about what it means to be around a campfire."
These expectations foster a "supportive, non-threatening environment where people don't feel judged or pressured to engage," Rudd said.
Campfires may encourage those who are "hesitant, anxious or unwilling to engage elsewhere" to connect with others and share personal experiences, he added.
Jessica Cail, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Pepperdine University in California, pointed out the association of fire with relaxation, comparing fires to a "social hub where people come together for warmth, light, food and protection."
Many holiday celebrations tend to involve fire, and some homes have fireplaces geared toward gathering and connecting, Cail noted in a separate interview with Fox News Digital.
"Being in nature involves more of a soft focus … giving our brains a chance to rest and restore."
"Given these positive associations, it should not be a surprise that these feelings of relaxation and safety can help facilitate social communication and counteract negative feelings, whether they're explicitly shared or not," she added.
Fire is also associated with ritual and transition, such as the use of advent candles or the therapeutic practice of writing regretful or traumatic thoughts down on paper, throwing them into a fire and watching them burn, Cail noted.
Nature is restorative, helping to counteract modern life's numerous demands and the need to stay hyper-focused on specific tasks, the expert added.
"This is fatiguing for our brains," Cail said.
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health
"Being in nature involves more of a soft focus (the sight of trees, the smell of grass, the sound of birds), giving our brains a chance to rest and restore."
"This break from ruminating on stress may be why so many researchers have found 'doses of nature' to be effective in reducing both depression and anxiety."
Campfires are often associated with leisure in nature, which is an important component of mental health, especially for those with mental illnesses, according to Cail.
The expert emphasized that changing your environment can also "change your mind."
"Unless your trauma took place in nature or around a fire, a change in environment like camping can break you out of that associative headspace, giving you a fresh outlook," she added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Multiple medical groups say they are barred from CDC's panel of vaccine advisers
Multiple medical groups say they have been barred from working on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's panel of vaccine advisers. It comes weeks after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the original panel of independent experts and replaced them with his own handpicked members -- many of whom have expressed skeptical views on vaccines. Liaisons representing major medical groups were historically invited to meetings of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) as non-voting members to provide their independent expertise in respective fields. In a joint statement, the groups said they have now been excluded "from the process of reviewing scientific evidence end informing vaccine recommendations." MORE: Members of CDC vaccine panel ousted by RFK Jr. say committee has 'lost credibility' A total of eight groups signed on to the statement, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, teh American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association and the National Medical Association among others. In a statement provided to ABC News, an HHS spokesperson said: "Under the old ACIP, outside pressure to align with vaccine orthodoxy limited asking the hard questions. The old ACIP members were plagued by conflicts of interest, influence, and bias. We are fulfilling our promise to the American people to never again allow those conflicts to taint vaccine recommendations." The statement went on to say: "Experts will continue to be included based on relevant experience and expertise, not because of what organization they are with." MORE: CDC vaccine advisers who were removed from committee by RFK Jr. speak out In their statement, the medical organizations said they learned the groups will be excluded from the panel's work in an email late Thursday and noted they were "deeply disappointed and alarmed" by the move. "To remove our deep medical expertise from this vital and once transparent process is irresponsible, dangerous to our nation's health, and will further undermine public and clinician trust in vaccines," the statement read. Solve the daily Crossword
Forbes
16 minutes ago
- Forbes
The Naked Gun Spoofs ‘Genius Who's Gonna Save The World With His Electric Cars'. Whoever That Is
The reviews are in for the cop parody legacyquel The Naked Gun, and they're overwhelmingly positive. The movie is 'extremely funny,' reckons The Guardian. It's a film that 'has a better chance of producing a belly laugh than any in recent memory,' suggests Empire. 'The Naked Gun's joke-per-minute ratio is truly astounding,' reports Collider. The Naked Gun, starting its theater run August 1, has a 91% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, from 170 reviews. So, sure, get to this slapstick flick if you want to laugh your socks off, but there's another reason to go see it: there's tech. Lots of tech. Green tech. The film's villain is a megalomaniac billionaire CEO of an electric car company. An electric car company with driverless cars. An electric car company with driverless cars that crash in mysterious circumstances. But the movie's evil billionaire isn't Elon Musk, it's Richard Kane (Danny Huston), a genius interested in men's sperm count and who's 'gonna save the world with his electric cars.' No, definitely nothing like Elon Musk. And while there's a spacesuit in the movie, and a humanoid robot—no doubt remote controlled by a human operator—there are no satellite dishes, brain implants, or tarnished social media sites. There are, however, plenty of fart jokes. Again, nothing at all like Elon Musk. The Naked Gun series dates back to the 1982 cop parody show Police Squad! by Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker, collectively known as ZAZ. This was followed by three ZAZ-produced Naked Gun movies from the late 1980s through to the mid-1990s. In film number four—a non-ZAZ production—gravel-voiced Liam Neeson plays Frank Drebin Jr., the son of the original's deadpanning Lt. Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen). He teams up with femme fatale Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson) in a laugh-a-minute spectacle of slapstick, sight gags, and wordplay. The Oscar-nominated star of Schindler's List is subjected to visual sexual innuendo in Austin Powers-like silhouette gags that are knockout funny. There's also a series of running gags that get funnier and funnier. The movie's apocalyptic plot hinges on a digital doohickey identified onscreen as the P.L.O.T. Device and operated by (it's-not-Musk-remember) Kane, who wants to reset a world he considers to be ruined: let the world's population fight themselves to oblivion, then build back better with a chosen few. Before the gizmo gets activated, Kane gifts the Police Squad with a driverless electric cop car (it's not a Tesla, in reality it's a disguised Hyundai Ioniq 6). Earlier, Drebin Jr. had grumbled 'I remember when the only things that were electric were eels, chairs, and Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago.' Evil genius Kane founded car maker Edentech 'to save the world' and has 'created technologies to rival the gods.' Not at all like Musk's claims that Tesla will become the world's leading robotics company, ushering in the 'closest thing to heaven we can get on Earth.' The Naked Gun pokes fun at driverless cars, but not EVs in general. Drebin Jr. hits a cyclist when driving his ICE car, and he does so again when sitting in the driverless cop car. The movie's a hoot. CREDITSDistribution: ParamountProduction company: Fuzzy DoorCast: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durand, Cody Rhodes, Liza Koshy, Eddie Yu, Danny HustonDirector: Akiva SchafferScreenwriters: Dan Gregor, Doug Maud, Akiva SchafferProducers: Seth MacFarlane, Erica HugginsExecutive producers: Daniel M. Stillman, Akiva Schaffer, Pete Chiappetta, Anthony Tittanegro, Andrew LaryDirector of photography: Brandon TrostProduction designer: Bill BrzeskiCostume designer: Betsy HeimannMusic: Lorne BalfeEditor: Brian Scott OldsVisual effects supervisor: Ashley BettiniRated PG-13. Runtime: 1 hour 25 minutes
Associated Press
19 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Judge allows the National Science Foundation to withhold hundreds of millions of research dollars
NEW YORK (AP) — The National Science Foundation can continue to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars from researchers in several states until litigation aimed at restoring it plays out, a federal court ruled Friday. U.S. District Judge John Cronan in New York declined to force the NSF to restart payments immediately, while the case is still being decided, as requested by the sixteen Democrat-led states who brought the suit, including New York, Hawaii, California, Colorado and Connecticut. In his ruling, Cronan said he would not grant the preliminary injunction in part because it may be that another court, the Court of Federal Claims, has jurisdiction over what is essentially a case about money. He also said the states failed to show that NSF's actions were counter to the agency's mandate. The lawsuit filed in May alleges that the National Science Foundation's new grant-funding priorities as well as a cap on what's known as indirect research expenses 'violate the law and jeopardize America's longstanding global leadership in STEM.' Another district court had already blocked the the cap on indirect costs — administrative expenses that allow research to get done like paying support staff and maintaining equipment. This injunction had been requested to restore funding to the grants that were cut. In April, the NSF announced a new set of priorities and began axing hundreds of grants for research focused on things like misinformation and diversity, equity and inclusion. Researchers who lost funding also were studying artificial intelligence, post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans, STEM education for K-12 students and more. Researchers were not given a specific explanation for why their grants were canceled, attorney Colleen Faherty, representing the state of New York, said during last month's hearing. Instead, they received boilerplate language stating that their work 'no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.' NSF has long been directed by Congress to encourage underrepresented groups like women and people with disabilities to participate in STEM. According to the lawsuit, the science foundation's funding cuts already halted efforts to train the next generation of scientists in fields like computer science, math and environmental science. A lawyer for the NSF said at the hearing that the agency has the authority to fund whatever research it deems necessary — and has since its inception in 1950. In the court filing, the government also argued that its current priorities were to 'create opportunities for all Americans everywhere' and 'not preference some groups at the expense of others, or directly/indirectly exclude individuals or groups.' The plaintiff states are trying to 'substitute their own judgement for the judgement of the agency,' Adam Gitlin, an attorney for the NSF, said during the hearing. The science foundation is still funding some projects related to expanding representation in STEM, Cronan wrote in his ruling. Per the lawsuit filed in May, for example, the University of Northern Colorado lost funding for only one of its nine programs focused on increasing participation of underrepresented groups in STEM fields. The states are reviewing the decision, according to spokespeople from the New York and Hawaii attorney general offices. The National Science Foundation declined to comment. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
