Nature’s spa is the stress antidote

I have to admit it. Researching this monthly column can make me anxious, with headlines like:

“The Hot Summer of 2025 could be the Coolest for the Rest of Our Lives” (Union of Concerned Scientists)

“2024 was the hottest year on record” (Reuters)

“Ocean temperatures hit record highs in 2024, study finds” (Phys.org)

“World’s Coral Reefs in almost irreversible die-off, scientists say” (CBC)

“Fires drove record loss of world’s forests last year, data shows” (the Guardian)

“Arctic sea ice reaches record low” (NASA)

The climate has changed. Our global home is hotter than it’s been in more than 125,000 years. All that excess heat from burning fossil fuels intensifies extreme droughts, fires, floods, storms and invasive insects across Canada and here at home. It affects air quality, crop production, insurance costs, and our health.

When I’m feeling most anxious, I have to push away from my computer, look out the window, go for a cross-country ski, or a paddle, or a hike in the woods. Even a walk down a country road with our dogs. Getting out into nature is a healing balm: Listening to bird song, rustling leaves, crunching snow. Smelling the pines. Feeling the cool breeze on my face. Noticing the sunlit diamonds on a rippling creek. It all whispers “relax.”

Research shows that time spent in the natural world can lower blood pressure, heart rate, improve mood, reduce depression and strengthen immunity. In the 1980s the Japanese coined the term Shinrin Yoku, loosely translated as forest bathing, and the health benefits are widely recognized there. Two hours a week communing with nature can boost health and wellbeing, and research shows that as little as 20 minutes at a time can reduce stress hormones. Trees and plants emit aromatic phytoncides, which account for some of that stress reduction.

While going to a conservation area or park is ideal, a stroll down a treed lane is also healing. So is digging in the garden. A microbe common in wet soils has been shown to affect neurotransmitters and reduce anxiety.

With all those therapeutic benefits, some health professionals have begun writing prescriptions for time in nature through PaRx – a national nature-prescription program. In addition to encouraging time outdoors, the prescription comes with benefits like 25 per cent off an annual Kawartha Conservation parking pass, free admission to the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, 50 per cent off admission to the Toronto Zoo and a Parks Canada Discovery Pass. That pass brings free admission to more than 80 Parks Canada sites for a year.

To tap into these perks, ask your health professional if they issue PaRx prescriptions, or would consider signing up for the process.

And this summer Parks Canada is again offering the Canada Strong Pass, providing free admission from June 19-Sept. 7 to all its historic sites, parks, and free lockage on its canals, including the Trent. It also includes a discount on camping fees. No physical pass needed. You just need to show up.

We can all benefit by preserving our natural areas, including those under our Conservation Authorities. The province is now looking at amalgamating Ontario’s CAs from 36 to seven. Some fear that could lead to conserved greenspace being opened up for development.

And that increases my stress, and my need to immerse myself in nature’s spa. After writing to my MPP.