Discover how forest bathing reduces stress and anxiety for neurodivergent, postmenopausal women. Simple techniques for profound mental health benefits.
The story (my forest bathing experience with anxiety).
Anxiety rose into my chest, tightening it. The usual tangle of morbid thoughts began swirling around inside my mind.
I pulled open the front door, stepped outside, and took a deep breath. Then I turned to my left and began walking. Past the retaining wall of our earth-sheltered house, past the garden, past the water storage tanks.
And then, I was there. Standing in our woods.
I took another deep breath. Fixed my eyes on the cluster of trees in front of me. The anxiety began draining out of me like rainwater running off a street.
I was inadvertently engaging in the ancient Japanese art of shinrin-yoku, translated into English as “forest bathing.”
Why neurodivergent women over 50 need forest bathing.
Neurodivergent women over 50 are particularly vulnerable to anxiety and depression. Our entire lives, we’ve struggled with negative moods due to lower-than-optimal levels of serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins in our brain.
The postmenopausal levels of estrogen retards the brain’s production of these precious neurotransmitters further. This leads to increased stress.
While there are many ways to reduce stress, there is none so closely in alignment with the needs of a neurodivergent person. Nature therapy for ADHD/autism is powerful. And if you can stay out in nature for awhile, the benefits can be relatively long-lasting, as well as more profound than other stress-relieving strategies.
Why forest bathing for postmenopausal stress?
When non-forest dwellers think of forests, they often picture clips from a video taken by a drone flying high above mountains. The scenes give the impression of trees growing so close together that there is no space between them.
Then there are the spooky scenes from movies and fairy tales that have led us to believe that danger lurks behind every other tree.
As someone who has lived in a forest for well over a decade now, allow me to debunk both beliefs. There are plenty of spaces between each tree. And it’s rare to encounter predatory wildlife, including the two-legged variety. If you do, they are much more apt to run away from you than attack.
And that’s besides the fact that most of them are more or less nocturnal.
All that said, why forest bathing for postmenopausal stress relief? Why not, say, “meadow bathing”? Listen, if the most convenient natural place for you to go is a meadow, by all means, take advantage! However, there’s something about being surrounded by trees. Something that feels secure, protective.
Yet, the open spaces between them prevent any sense of feeling trapped. And allow your soul to breathe. When you look up at the branches reaching into the sky, you can’t help but feel at least a little awe at the majesty of the height, especially knowing how small the seed was that produced the benign giants.
Then there is all the other vegetation, the vines, bushes, small plants, adding texture and varying hues of calming green to the scenery. Combined with the carpet of leaves and pine needles that give a light crunch with your every step, and the effect is a combination of relief, peace, and inexplicable satisfaction.
We can be even more specific with those benefits.
The benefits of forest bathing.
The act of spending time in the forest for the express purpose of reducing stress can produce the following results. It:
- Relaxes you, thus lowering blood pressure.
- Clears your mind.
- Refreshes you, lifting at least a little of your fatigue.
- Alleviates social pressure, as there are likely to be few or zero other people around.
- Gives you space to recover your identity.
- Shifts a negative, narrow perspective to a more positive one.
- Sparks creativity.
- Encourages the production of the “feel-good” neurotransmitters mentioned earlier. Therefore…
- …Brings on a good mood that can last for hours.
- Finally, it brings on feelings of safety and nurturing.
This last benefit is particularly lovely for us neurodivergent, postmenopausal women. The trees standing sentinel, their gray shadows crisscrossing over filtered sunbeams, act as a buffer between us and the world of demands that we’ve never quite felt we could live up to.
They help us feel safer, more secure.
Then there is the sense of nurturing. Even those who never bore children likely found themselves in some sort of nurturing role at some point in their lives, whether for a romantic partner, a distressed co-worker or friend, or a parent or sibling.
Likely as not, that nurturing was never reciprocated.
Standing in a forest, absorbing nature’s energy, is like a warm embrace from an old friend. It makes you feel cared for.
How to practice forest bathing: 7 simple methods.
First, understand that you don’t need an actual forest to engage in forest bathing. A grove of trees large enough so that you can feel like you’re in a forest is sufficient.
Second, the longer your “bath,” the greater the benefits. That said, I’ve found that five to ten minutes can be enough to lose a bad mood and help me see the world through a more positive lens.
And now, you might be wondering about how to go about it. There are a variety of things you can do, beginning with the most obvious (and probably most common).
- Simply stand in the middle of a woods and absorb the peace and serenity of the calming energy all around you.
- Take a slow, meditative stroll.
- Have a picnic. This might bring a bird or squirrel closer to you, creating a greater connection to nature and making the outing more fun.
- Sit on a rock or fallen tree and read a book.
- Pray.
- Meditate with your eyes open. Allow the sights, sounds, and smells of the forest to inundate your senses.
- Study the flora and fauna, including creepy-crawlies. Especially the creepy-crawlies. They can be quite fascinating, you know. 😉
Whatever else you do, let all negative thoughts pass on by. Don’t hold onto them. Instead, embrace the goodness in the air around you.
Postmenopause stress relief: nothing compares to forest bathing.
I recognize that most of my readers don’t have easy access to a thick grove of trees, let alone a forest. In that case, discover the closest park to you that tends to be quiet and full of trees. If there’s a biking trail winding through a greenbelt near your neighborhood, so much the better.
Another option is to take one day a month and drive to the nearest state park that has woods, if not a forested area.
Whatever you choose, whether you’re dealing with midlife or autistic burnout or just trying to “get away from it all” for an hour or two in order to regroup, I encourage you to try forest bathing.
It’s helping me; I believe it will help you, too.
What’s your favorite natural space for stress relief? Let us know in the comments!
