Everyone knows that taking a walk in a forest is very refreshing, but did you know that you can practice Forest Therapy to powerfully change your health?
Forest therapy aka Shinrin-yoku is a term that means “taking in the forest atmosphere” or forest bathing. Forest therapy as a practice was developed in Japan and has become a cornerstone of health and healing in Japanese medicine.
The benefits of forest therapy include reducing sympathetic nervous activity, increasing parasympathetic nervous activity and inducing the relaxation response which benefits the immune system. Forest therapy also decreases blood pressure and heart rate, anxiety, depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion. That’s a pretty good track record!
Forest therapy benefits are largely due to the inhalation of forest aerosols. Terpenes are the plant oils that are the major components of forest aerosols. While terpenes have long been used to treat various diseases in aromatherapy, researchers now categorize various terpenes obtained from forests according to their anti-inflammatory, anti-tumorigenic, or neuroprotective activities.
Studies showing the biological effectiveness of terpenes support the benefits of forest therapy and propose the use of terpenes as anti-inflammatory and immuno-therapeutic agents in treating various diseases. Immunotherapy is defined as the prevention or treatment of disease with substances that modulate the immune response.
Many terpenes from essential oils as well as from forest therapy have been shown to exhibit strong biological activity on many systems, including the immune system. To investigate the immono-therapeutic uses of terpenes, we need to explore the pathways associated with their biological effects.
Anti-inflammatory and Immune Modulating Terpenes
Cedar, Cypress and Pine
Terpenes such as α-pinene, β-pinene, camphor, camphene, sabinene, limonene, menthol, cymene, and myrcene are produced by many conifers such as cedar, cypress and and pine trees.
Many terpenes in these conifers act directly and indirectly on the immune system by increasing the number of NK cells and intracellular levels of anticancer proteins.
For anyone with an autoimmune disease, you may be interested in α-Pinene, found in the essential oils of cedar, cypress and pine. A quick check on pub-med reveals the many studies that show α-Pinene’s anti-inflammatory activity comes from decreasing the expression of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and nitric oxide (NO) in macrophages.
Similar to α-pinene, d-limonene – yet another terpene commonly found in forests – has been shown to reduce proinflammatory cytokines, TNF-α and prostaglandin E-2 (PGE2). P-cymene also blocks NF-κB and reduces production of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-β in macrophages.
These are the precise cells and cellular pathways that we need to modulate when we are working with inflammation and immune imbalances as in the case of autoimmune disease and cancer.
Given that therapeutic terpenes like pinene and limonene are the main components of forest aerosols, it’s important to consider forest therapy to decrease inflammation and create immune balance. While walks in the forest are proving to be a vital ingredient in healthy human functioning, you can also consider diffusing the essential oils of cedar, cypress and pine in your own home. For more information about essential oils blends for immune balance, please read my book Beyond Cannabis.
