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# Breathe
- URL: https://lucia.ghost.io/issue-one-breathe/
- Published: 2015-07-01T07:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-30T01:24:44.000Z
- Description: inspiration /in-spuh-rey-shuh n/ (verb) the drawing of air into the lungs; the act of inhaling.
- Author: Laura Lowery
- Tags: Issue One - Inspiration

Trees are healers. 

Qing Li, a professor in the Department of Hygiene and Public Health at Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, has been involved with several studies that show how walking among trees dramatically improves our health, including one study published in the *European Journal of Applied Physiology*.

A walk in the forest is recognized by the Japanese government as a means of improving quality of life. It is called “shinrin-yoku” which means *forest bathing*.

Forest bathing lowers blood pressure and increases killer T-cell counts. How?

Trees have evolved compounds to protect themselves from fungi and bacteria. They can live for hundreds, even thousands, of years because the compounds (phytoncides) ward off disease.

When you take a walk among the trees, you breathe phytoncides and they boost your body’s immunity. The effects of one walk can last for many weeks. 

How to take a forest bath: Find a forest. Walk. Breathe.