Tag environment

14 March, 2018 by Choki team

Want to enjoy a long, happy life? Live near trees, say researchers

If you’re anything like me, hiking through a forest, camping in the woods or savoring a natural space is a sure-fire way to boost mood, energy and vitality. The Japanese even have a name for it, Shinrin Yoku — otherwise known as forest bathing. And they have science to back-up the physiological benefits — stress markers like cortisol, pulse rate, blood pressure, parasympathetic and sympathetic nerve activity all improve with spending time in the woods. It’s not only the Japanese who have discovered the perks of spending time among the trees, Western researchers have now established that if you want a healthy brain and more resiliency to stress, living near a forest is one of the best moves you can make.

Healthy Brain Function Linked with Close Proximity to Forests

While forest fires continue to rage in Southern California, casting a smoky pall over the mental and physical health of the local residents, new research from Germany suggests that the benefits of living close to trees far outweigh the dangers.

The study looked at older urban dwellers and found that those who lived in close proximity to wooded landscapes had healthier function in the the amygdala region of the brain — a clustered set of neurons that play an important role in regulating emotions, especially fear and anxiety.

Analyzing data on 341 participants in the Berlin Aging Study II, researchers looked at “three different indicators of brain structural integrity” to gather distinct information on key areas of the brain. “Our results reveal a significant positive association between the coverage of forest and amygdala integrity,” note the team.

Surprisingly, lead research Simone Kuehn of the Max Plank Institute for Human Development in Berlin, reported that there wasn’t any such positive association with urban green spaces like parks or near bodies of water. For this particular investigation, it was only living close to forests that showed a tangible benefit for the healthy functioning of the amygdala and processing emotions.

And yet, previous research has established that living in the vicinity of nature — including urban green spaces, as well as trees and gardens in residential areas — has a profound, far-reaching impact on longevity, levels of aggression, cognitive development and even how kind we are to others.

Trees: Miracle Workers for Well-Being

“It is a known fact that urban trees improve air quality, reduce cooling and heating energy use, and make urban environments aesthetically more preferable. Importantly, several studies have shown that exposure to green spaces can be psychologically and physiologically restorative by promoting mental health, reducing non-accidental mortality, reducing physician assessed-morbidity, reducing income-related health inequality’s effect on morbidity, reducing blood pressure and stress levels, reducing sedentary leisure time, as well as promoting physical activity. In addition, green space may enhance psychological and cardio-vascular benefits of physical activity, as compared with other settings.” ~ Scientific Reports

Interacting with natural environments also improves memory and attention, as well as reducing crime. Moreover, it boosts recovery from surgery — even when it’s just a view through a window.

In this study, researchers wanted to know if it was greenery in general (as in bushes, shrubs and grass) or specifically trees that created such positive effects.

“Our results suggest that people who live in areas that have more (and/or larger) trees on the streets report better health perception, after controlling for demographic factors, such as income, age and education.”

The team points out that this increase in health perception equates to the effect of a $10,200 increase in annual household income and the equivalent of being 7 years younger. The researchers add, “Results suggest that people who live in areas that have more (and/or larger) trees on the streets report significantly fewer cardio-metabolic conditions” as well.

Similarly, a paper published by the National Institute of Health found that women have a 12 percent lower mortality rate when high levels of vegetation are near their home.

Using data from the Long-Term Nurses’ Health Study, researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, analyzed the data of 108,630 women. They found the most significant differences in death rates were from kidney disease (41% lower), respiratory disease (34% lower) and cancer (13% lower). The team believes contributing influences are due to improved mental health and social engagement, along with increased physical activity and reduction in air pollution. Results were adjusted to reflect factors such as age, race, ethnicity, smoking and socioeconomic status.

“It is important to know that trees and plants provide health benefits in our communities, as well as beauty,” said NIEHS director Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D. “The finding of reduced mortality suggests that vegetation may be important to health in a broad range of ways.”

Trees Don’t Just Make Us Healthier, But Happier Too

We all know that rumination is one of the surest ways to stifle joy and contentment. The logic would follow that, if we can stop rumination in its tracks — or at least minimize it — our happiness level will improve.

A case in point is a 2015 study that discovered when 60 participants were randomly assigned to a 50-minute walk in either an urban setting (along a multi-lane road) or in a natural setting (oak woodlands), those who walked in nature experienced lower levels of anxiety and rumination, as well as increased levels of positive emotions and improved performance on memory tasks — compared to the urban walkers.

A subsequent study specifically looked at how walking in nature influences rumination — which has been linked to the onset of depression and anxiety — using fMRI technology to map brain activity. Participants took a 90-minute walk in either a natural or urban setting and had their brains scanned before and after the walk. They were also surveyed on self-reported rumination levels, along with other psychological classifications. Heart rate and pulmonary functions associated with physical exertion levels were taken into account. The results?

“[P]articipants who walked in a natural setting versus an urban setting reported decreased rumination after the walk, and they showed increased activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain whose deactivation is affiliated with depression and anxiety—a finding that suggests nature may have important impacts on mood.” [source]

However we look at it, trees are good news for our health and well-being, which is why, now more than ever, we need to protect natural spaces and cultivate more green areas in urban environments. The Arbor Day Foundation, TreeSisters and web browser Ecosia are a few of the many outstanding organizations who are working hard to plant and maintain trees locally and worldwide.

The tree revolution has begun.

Author: Carolanne Wright – Wake Up World

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23 October, 2015 by Choki team

Grassroots Revolution Towards a Holistic and Creative Educational System

“Reform is not enough anymore. Because that’s simply improving a broken model. What we need, and the word’s been used many times in the course of the past few days, is not evolution, but a revolution in education. This has to be transformed into something else.” – Sir Ken Robinson

Mr. Robinson spoke these words in his popular 20-minute TedTalk entitled, “Bring On The Learning Revolution”, which is embedded below. This is one of the best lectures on a topic that so desperately needs addressed in our world and I recommend it to anyone.

The current educational system, which stresses compartmentalization and standardized testing, is limiting the inherent abilities we all possess. It’s as if the educational system is simply set up in a way that directs us only to memorize and regurgitate rather than question, express, connect, and create. We are taught to fall in line and adhere to “The Matrix” rather than being our unique, authentic selves.

Though we could go deep down the rabbit hole showing the financial corruption involved at all levels of the world’s educational system, we’ll instead focus on solutions.

The learner-centered education, or mastery model, which is the way Maria Montessori’s schools have been designed, has been at the center of this revolution in education for quite some time. The base of this model is the belief that the children must be in control of their own learning and that the happiness level of the student is reflective on how effective the education is for him or her.

The adult teacher shapes the environment in a way that encourages questioning, curiosity, mastery of skills, expression and creativity. Sounds about the opposite of what most traditional schooling systems create, doesn’t it?

In fact, looking back across hundreds and probably thousands of years, we see that the way we are hard-wired to learn is very different from a traditional school setting. Think about it. Prior to these systems of today, we learned through observation, hands on application, apprenticing, cooperative learning based in groups and pairs. The atmosphere of the learning environment was also completely different. In today’s model, fear is often at the base of learning. The fear of failing on a standardized test so one can receive a “good grade” is prevalent everywhere. One doesn’t have to be a social psychologist to understand that true learning and mastery is very difficult when a person is in a state of fear and stress.

However, when the environment is not competitive but rather cooperative, an environment where there isn’t the fear of failure, the person can thrive and gain the mastery of multiple skills.

In fact, Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences , which is based on solid and unbiased psychological research, says that each person has at least eight different domains of potential intelligences, each of which can be mastered over time using multiple skill sets.

Howard Gardner said of this holistic learning model, “The idea of multiple intelligences comes out of psychology. It’s a theory that was developed to document the fact that human beings have very different kinds of intellectual strengths and that these strengths are very, very important in how kids learn and how people represent things in their minds, and then how people use them in order to show what it is they’ve understood.”

The Creative Grassroots Revolution, which like all truth-based revolutions, cannot be stopped. Keep questioning, keep proposing holistic solutions, keep in the state of curiosity and wonder.

As Albert Einstein said, ” The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”

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Author: Lance Schuttler – Wake Up World

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6 August, 2015 by Choki team

Meditation as a Self-Healing Tool

The body is equipped with natural self-repair mechanisms that can be flipped on or off with thoughts, beliefs, and feelings that originate in the mind. This is great news, because it means, in essence, that you can heal yourself. But how?

One of the many simple ways you can flip on your body’s self-repair mechanisms is via meditation.

What Does It Mean To Meditate?

Dictionary.com defines meditation as “continued or extended thought; reflection; contemplation,” but I prefer Harvard professor Dr. Herbert Benson’s definition. He defines it as “Repetition of a word, sound, phrase, prayer, or muscular activity while passively disregarding everyday thoughts that inevitably come to mind and returning to your repetition.” With this definition of meditation, anything can be a meditation – not just sitting with your eyes closed in the lotus position, but walking, making art, cooking, shopping, dancing, driving… whatever.

How The Body Heals Itself

In my medical training, we were not taught that the body knows how to heal itself. Yet it is equipped with natural self-repair mechanisms that repair broken proteins, kill cancer cells, fight infections, prevent aging, and maintain the homeostasis of the body. When the body gets sick, whether from the common cold or something more serious, like heart disease or cancer, it’s almost always because the body’s self-repair mechanisms have broken down, usually because of stress.

When the nervous system is stressed, as it is during the “fight-or-flight” stress response that is so commonly triggered in modern day life, these self-repair mechanisms are disabled and the body is at risk for disease. Only when the counterbalancing relaxation response is activated, when the sympathetic nervous system is turned off and the parasympathetic nervous system is turned on, can the body heal itself.

Why Meditate?

So how can you turn on that relaxation response so the body can heal itself? One of the simplest and most effective is meditation! Meditation has been scientifically proven to activate the relaxation response, and as a result, almost every health condition improves. In his research at Harvard, Herbert Benson demonstrated that meditation is effective in treating angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmias, allergic skin reactions, anxiety, mild to moderate depression, bronchial asthma, herpes simplex, cough, constipation, diabetes mellitus, duodenal ulcers, dizziness, fatigue, hypertension, infertility, insomnia, nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, nervousness, postoperative swelling, premenstrual syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, side effects of cancer, side effects of AIDS, and all forms of pain – backaches, headaches, abdominal pain, muscle pain, joint aches, postoperative pain, neck, arm, and leg pain. (Most likely it helps many conditions not listed here, but Dr. Benson just hasn’t gotten around to studying them yet!)

Meditation has been shown to decrease stress-related cortisol, reduce respiration and heart rate, reduce the metabolic rate, increase blood flow in the brain, increase activity in the left prefrontal cortex (which is observed in happier people), strengthen the immune system, and lead to a state of relaxation.

Meditation also reduces work stress, anxiety, and depression, promotes cardiovascular health, improves cognitive function, reduces alcohol abuse, improves longevity, promotes healthy weight, improves immune function, and heightens quality of life.

How To Start Meditating

Deepak Chopra recommends the “RPM” (Rise, Pee, Meditate) approach to meditation, suggesting that those who can will be well served to meditate first thing upon arising. However, if you, like me, have young children, you may find it easier to meditate when the kids are napping or away at school. If you work outside the home, you may find it easier to meditate over your lunch break or just before bed.

Regardless of when you do it, it’s crucial to make the time in your schedule to help your nervous system relax.

Here are Some Tips to Help You Get Started with a Sitting Meditation Practice:

1. Create a peaceful environment

If you’ve never tried a sitting meditation before, start by creating a peaceful environment in which to meditate. I have two altars I’ve created at home, one in my bedroom and one in my home office, which I sit in front of to meditate. When I sit down to meditate, I light the candles, burn some incense, and take a moment to let my altar soothe me.

Some people have rooms exclusively dedicated to meditation. Even a small closet can be tricked out to become a special space designed to help your body relax and your soul connect. Meditating outside can also be lovely. Because I live on the California coast, I often meditate at the ocean on a rocky beach that is usually deserted or in Muir Woods, among the peaceful redwoods. If you have access to quiet spots in nature, try a beach, a riverfront, a meadow, or a forest free of distractions.

2. Minimize disruptions

Turn off the TV, silence your phone, and play soothing music if you like. The point is to create an environment conducive to freeing your mind from its daily clutter and relaxing your body.

3. Choose your meditation position

If you can, sit on the floor and close your eyes. You don’t have to sit in the lotus position unless you want to, but sitting on the floor helps you feel grounded, connects you to Mother Earth, and roots you into your body when you meditate. Feel free to use pillows, cushions, and other props that help you feel comfortable. Keep your back straight so you can breathe deeply with ease. If sitting on the floor is too uncomfortable, sit in a chair and place your feet firmly on the floor to develop a sense of grounding.

4. Set a timer

If you’re new to meditation, start with just five minutes per day and aim to work up to twenty. Set a timer so you don’t have to interrupt your meditation to check your watch.

5. Close your eyes

Closing your eyes minimizes visual distractions, helps you come back into your body, and starts to settle you.

6. Focus on your breath as you inhale and exhale

Meditation teacher Jack Kornfield suggests that if you notice yourself remembering, planning, or fantasizing, refrain from judging yourself, but do call it out. “Hello remembering.” “Hello planning.” “Hello fantasizing.” Then return to the present moment, focusing on your breath. The minute you notice your thoughts starting to wander, come back to your breath and try to empty your mind. If your mind continues to wander and your breath isn’t enough to empty your mind, try counting your breaths or repeating a one word mantra like “peace” or “one” to clear your mind.

7. Release judgment

Most importantly, don’t judge yourself as you learn to meditate. Criticizing yourself for meditating “badly” or beating yourself up because your monkey mind won’t calm down will only stress you out, defeating the purpose of making attempts to help your body relax so it can repair itself. Remain compassionate with yourself, and pat yourself on the back for any progress you make.

Can’t make it more than 10 breaths into your meditation? Give yourself a hug and try again the next day. Like anything, it just takes practice. As someone who resisted meditation for most of my life, I can attest to the fact that it really does get easier with regular practice, and the benefits are so worth the effort.

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Author: Lissa Rankin – Wake Up World

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3 June, 2015 by Choki team

Tigers and Snow Leopards Thriving in Bhutan

Biologically, Bhutan straddles an area with high biodiversity richness—the Eastern Himalayas. Precipitation from the monsoons, great altitudinal variation, and its location connecting the Indian plains to the high Himalayan peaks on the edge of the Tibetan plateau allow for an amazing assemblage of biodiversity that is still being discovered today. Bhutan is the only place on Earth where snow leopards and tigers share the same habitat. Recent survey results show that both these endangered large cats are not only surviving, but thriving, in Bhutan.

Bhutan is providing new insights on tiger biology. Tigers were once considered a creature of the tropical forests of Asia and the temperate forests of the Russian Far East, but Bhutan has proven to science that one can find tigers even in places above 4000 m. Contrary to earlier assumptions, the middle hills of Bhutan are an equally important haven for tigers. According to tiger biologist Tshering Tempa, Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park (JSWNP), in central Bhutan, could have as many as 26 tigers, with a density of 2 tigers per 100 sq km.

This park further connects with the rich Royal Manas National Park to the south and Jigme Dorji National Park to the north, that extends to the Tibetan border. Tigers have been recorded from all three parks.

Tempa is head of the Department of Conservation Biology at the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environment (UWICE) and part of a team of government researchers currently conducting the national tiger survey for Bhutan. Tempa’s tiger surveys have been supported by the Bhutan Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Karuna Foundation, and the University of Montana. World Wildlife Fund-Bhutan and the Wildlife Conservation Division of the Department of Forest and Park Services are other partners in the national tiger survey.

“Results from our study have changed the way we view our forest. We documented seven species of wild cats in JSWNP and for the first time, recorded tigers with cubs at 2500 m,” states Tempa with excitement. “This is huge for tiger conservation—with adequate prey and contiguous habitat, tigers can adapt to varying landscapes, even high mountains.”

The tiger survey also recorded gaur, a large wild bovid, at 4100 m—a new record for this tropical and subtropical ungulate. “The forests of Bhutan continue to fascinate us through such findings. Our data indicate that the future of tigers and many endangered species in the region will benefit from the pristine and contiguous forests of Bhutan. Imagine, in Bhutan, a tiger can travel all the way from the foothills on the Indian border to the high Himalayas. It is the tremendous prey biomass and habitat contiguity that allow this,” Tempa concludes.

Nawang Norbu, Director of UWICE, posits that Bhutan is a vital link for the survival of true wilderness in Asia today:

“When we think of the Himalayas, the image which is most familiar is that of the high snow-clad mountains. But the Himalayas are more than that. Given that habitats rise from sea level up to alpine meadows within a vertical climb of less than 100 km, biodiversity in all its glory, encompassing sub-tropical to alpine species, can be experienced within a narrow stretch. This diversity and richness of birds, plants and other biodiversity are imperiled across much of the Himalayas due to land-use change and a burgeoning human population. Having maintained a forest cover of over 70% and with more than half of all its land under protected area status, Bhutan remains an exception and continues to provide safe habitats required for most of Himalayan biodiversity. Endangered bird species such as the charismatic Rufous-necked hornbills are common sightings in Bhutan. In Nepal and surrounding areas, such birds are believed to have gone locally extinct. Bhutan still maintains a human population of less than a million thereby exerting minimal pressure on natural habitats. In my mind, there is no doubt that Bhutan is the last refugia for Himalayan biodiversity.”

Bhutan’s protected areas and biological corridor network cover more than half of the country. (Map: DoFPS)

“Bhutan has benefited from far-sighted leadership of our kings and subsequent governments. Our responsibility is to pass on this intact environment to our future generations,” states Chencho Norbu, Director General of Bhutan’s Department of Forest and Park Services.

–

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Author Tshewang Wangchuk

From article “Bhutan: a Frontier for Culture, Biodiversity, and Adventure” / National Geographic

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