The Japanese art of 'forest bathing' can improve focus, lower stress: What it is and how to get the most benefit
Recently, forest bathing is growing in popularity, thanks in part to social media where people are sharing their experiences exploring forests and other green spaces and taking in all that they have to offer. Over 45,000 videos have been shared on TikTok with the tag #forestbathing. Users says they've seen an improvement to their mental health.
"It's slowing down. It's connecting to nature with all your senses. It's just being in a natural setting and being present," says Mark Ellison, a certified forest therapy guide and trail consultant, and founder of Pinnacle Forest Therapy.
"The key things are to find a place where you can spend some time uninterrupted, and then notice the things that are around you."
Forest bathing can be done solo, or with a guide like Ellison. He helped found the first certified forest therapy trail in North Carolina at Pinnacle Park. There, Ellison guides people along the trail and encourages them to notice what they hear, see, smell and feel along the journey.
The experiences Ellison leads usually last about an hour and a half, and involve minimal talking to prioritize periods of reflection and meditation.
It can sometimes be an emotional experience, he says, with some people crying during the walks. "It's really a contrast to how we typically spend our days, which are usually distracting and usually in stressful environments," Ellison tells CNBC Make It.
"Some people seek that out as a way to deal with grief. I've guided a number of individuals and families who specifically came to go on the forest bathing experience, to remember someone who passed who was very connected to nature."
When people spend more time in nature, it can have great benefits on how they feel, Ellison says.
"One of the key things about forest bathing and how it supports our mental health is that through using our senses, it helps us to really calm down," he says.
"We're always in a hurry, and we're always connected to technology in our homes, and so [it's] disconnecting from that."
Ellison encourages people who forest bathe to turn their phones off or put them on silent if they feel comfortable doing so. Avoid "the temptation to take pictures and check social media and those sorts of things. Be fully engaged with what nature offers," he says.
When you forest bathe, it can also enhance your attention span, he explains. This aligns with "attention restoration theory," which was introduced by Stephen and Rachel Kaplan at the University of Michigan.
The theory suggests that "spending time in nature helps our attention capacities that we use on a daily basis, relax," Ellison says.
"It keeps us engaged enough to be interested and not bored. But it lets our primary attention capacities rest. And so they're like a muscle. When they get fatigued, they're not as effective."
To reap the benefits of forest bathing, you don't have to head to a trail if you aren't comfortable. Ellison emphasizes that it can even be done in your backyard or a local garden, and bringing a pal along could make the experience less scary.
The practice also doesn't have to be 90 minutes to be beneficial, he adds.
"You could just go out in your backyard and just sit by a tree and just do 15 minutes. And then if you feel comfortable with that, continue on with longer periods of time out in nature," Ellison says.
"Start in small doses and maybe keep a journal and just write down some of the things that you experience and notice while you're out there."
If you don't have easy access to green spaces, Ellison recommends surrounding yourself with nature by getting plants for your space, hanging photos of beautiful landscapes on your walls or using them as screensavers and listening to nature-inspired sounds like ocean waves.
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Los Angeles Times
13 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Debunking #GutTok — What Works & What Doesn't
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Take yogurt, which is often the poster child of probiotic foods is a good example. 'Everybody's like, 'Oh, yogurt is yogurt.' But that's just not true. There are yogurts out there that actually have no live bacteria,' Dr. Shaw explains. Pasteurization and processing can destroy probiotics, and some brands load them up with sugar, which feeds the less-friendly microbes in your gut. If you want probiotics that make it to your digestive tract, you need specifics. Strain names and to know what they are claiming to treat (i.e., Bifidobacterium longum for reducing inflammation) and a dose between at least 1 billion and 10 billion colony-forming units (CFUs) per serving. If neither is listed, it's likely not doing much for your microbiome. Want to know if a product is truly healthy? Check the label. Just because it says 'gut healthy' doesn't mean it is. Dr. Shaw advises, 'You have to look at the back of the product and see if the bacteria are listed. Look for probiotic species listed. 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Dr. Shaw says these microbes 'produce special compounds called short-chain fatty acids that travel throughout your body and support health.' Exercise increases the variety of these microbes, boosts your immune system, and improves sleep — all protecting your gut lining and overall health. To manage stress, simple actions like meditation, deep breathing, or walking outside balance your hormones, reduce inflammation, and protect your gut. It's easy to chase the latest gut health trends, but your digestion works best with steady habits. And pay attention to what your gut needs daily. Balance your meals with whole foods that feed your microbiome. Or stay hydrated, and manage stress in ways you can maintain. Your gut will grow stronger and healthier as you practice these habits. If you want to give your gut a boost, there are a few trusted products that fit well with Dr. Shaw's balanced approach. 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Newsweek
18 hours ago
- Newsweek
Woman Buys $3 Bag of Pens at Thrift Store—Then Discovers Their True Value
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. An Ohio woman has revealed how a seemingly ordinary bag of pens purchased from a local thrift store ended up being worth substantially more. In a video posted to TikTok under the handle @cosmicdealheather, the eagle-eyed thrifter revealed how a bag of pens she recently purchased for just $3 ended up being worth somewhere in the region of $100. "You might be wondering why you would buy a bag of pens that's pretty much worthless?" she says on the clip. "The answer is not if they are drug rep pens." "I have been selling things on eBay for 19 years and have sold different pharmaceutical rep pieces over that time period," user @cosmicdealheather, who requested her real name be omitted from this story, told Newsweek. "Certain ones have a market just because it's funny to say you own a Viagra pen or want an Adderall note pad to match your prescription," the poster said. To understand how this all started, you have to go back to 2006 and the publication of a report in the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics. It concluded that even the cheapest of gifts, whether they be T-shirts, cuddly toys or, of course, pens, were capable of influencing physician prescribing decisions. By 2008, the pharmaceutical industry reached an industrywide agreement that brought an end to gift giving of this kind and, in the process, turned those gifts still in circulation into something approaching collectors' items. At the time of writing, there are currently over 2,100 listings under the search term "Drug Rep Pen" on eBay. Highlights include a metal Zoloft pen on offer for $89 and a pair of brand-new OxyContin pens for sale at $79.99. Cosmicdealheather said that pens linked to companies making "painkillers, antidepressants, stimulants, sleep aids, or benzos [benzodiazepines] tend to be the ones people want." She added that, while there is a market for these pens on sites like eBay, it can pay off to cast your net a little wider when it comes to making money off them. "You can find them at thrift stores, estate sales, garage sales, anywhere someone might have old stuff they want to get rid of," the poster said. This new bag of pens contains a few interesting ones and will fetch a decent price once she divides it up into a few different listings. However, there are even more valuable items out there. "I haven't found any of the really expensive ones," the poster said. However, she has had luck with other pharma merch in the recent past. "I find drug rep merch a few times a year while thrifting," she said. "Last year, I got a whole box full of Zoloft tissues for free at a garage sale, so maybe one big score a year." Though it is far from an exact science, Cosmicdealheather said that the demand for these items means anyone scouring the shelves at their local thrift store would be wise to take a closer look at any pens up for sale. "If they see a bag of pens or something at the thrift store and it's full of pharmaceutical pens, it might have value," the poster said.
New York Post
20 hours ago
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I popped a pimple in the ‘triangle of death' and ended up in urgent care on 4 prescription drugs
Please don't squeeze. That's the warning from mom of three Lish Marie, who ended up in urgent care — and filling four different prescriptions — after simply popping a pimple on her face. But the spot in question sat in what dermatologists call the 'triangle of death' — and her blemish blunder could have actually killed her. 5 Lish Marie is warning people against popping a pimple in the 'triangle of death' after it landed her in urgent care. TikTok/lishmarie1 5 Her face got swollen and her smile was crooked within hours of popping the pimple just below her nose. TikTok/lishmarie1 Lish (@lishmarie1) tried to pop a cyst pimple just below her nostril, a pretty common place for zits to grow. Within four hours, things got 'bad,' she said, with that side of her face swelling so much that when she tried to smile, only the opposite side actually raised into a grin. She said the results were 'extremely painful' and doctors at urgent care put her on four medications to take care of the infection, including steroids and antibiotics. Lish's pimple fell inside the 'triangle of death,' an area of the face where a popped pimple can release bacteria into the brain, leading to potentially life-threatening infections. 'Popping pimples in the center of the face can be particularly dangerous,' NYC-based dermatologist Dr. Mark Strom said in a TikTok last year. 'The area of the face from the bridge of the nose down to the corners of the mouth has veins that connect directly to the brain via a blood vessel called the cavernous sinus,' he said. 5 Fortunately, after four medications, she was back to normal within a few days. TikTok/lishmarie1 When you squeeze a zit there, you leave a small open wound through which bacteria (like from your hands or the air) can enter the bloodstream. This can lead to infection, which may then be carried to the brain. Complications can include blindness, stroke, paralysis and even death. Another TikTokker named Hope (@imlesbianflavored) revealed in 2023 that in her case, it lead to a staph infection that was 'worse than childbirth' and left her with a scar. Well aware of the 'triangle of death,' Lish knew she got lucky: 'I think I caught mine extremely quick, within hours so I'm on a ton of meds,' she said. Twenty-four hours later she was doing better, though she noted that her smile was still a bit 'crooked,' and three days later she was '100% back to normal.' While lots of commenters chimed in to say that they'd popped plenty of pimples in the area without incident, others shared similarly scary experiences. 'Happened to my daughter. We spent a week in the hospital and she had to have surgery on her face,' wrote one mom, while another said her son was hospitalized when his turned into a staph infection. 'I almost died from this. It's no joke, was hospitalized for a week and a half and had surgery,' wrote yet another commenter. 5 'Popping pimples in the center of the face can be particularly dangerous,' NYC-based dermatologist Dr. Mark Strom said in a TikTok last year. TikTok/dermarkologist 5 The triangle is 'the area of the face from the bridge of the nose down to the corners of the mouth,' Dr. Strom explained. Khunatorn – If you absolutely must pop a pimple — after trying a spot treatment or pimple patches — dermatologist Dr. Mamina Turegano says to begin by sterilizing your hands and the area with rubbing alcohol. 'Then poke the pimple with a diabetic lancet, which has a very tiny needle, to open the surface with a small prick that 'won't cause too much damage,' she said in an Instagram video. Apply slight pressure with two cotton swabs to let the contents drain out. 'When popping a pimple it's very important that you're not applying a lot of pressure otherwise you're gonna get a lot more inflammation and result in scarring,' Turegano advised. But she, too, advises against touching anything in the 'triangle of death.' 'Really, don't mess with it. Spot treatment it or see a derm,' Tuergano insisted.
