After last year’s complete and utter damp squib of a June/July/August, I don’t want to jinx anything by uttering — typing, even — the words ‘b**b*cue su**er’ but hasn’t it been a lovely few days?*
April has been very well behaved, with plenty of the country basking in sunshine and, as a bonus, we are having a spectacular show of cherry blossom to rival Japan’s, all thanks to that miserable winter we had to endure, according to a piece in today’s Times.
The positive psychological effects of good weather have been well documented, so when the sun’s out, it’s best to take yourself outside for at least 30 minutes and bask. But it’s not just the light and warmth that are making us feel good, it’s the birdsong, lush green shoots and that blossom.
Back in the Eighties, an evolutionary biologist called Edward O Wilson coined the term biophilia — man’s innate affinity for nature. This affinity was down to our ancestral past, he believed, and that we evolved as part of the landscape not as something separate from it. After a month of feel-good blossom, I think Wilson has a point.
And so do many psychologists, who have begun to take the relatively new field of ecopsychology — the study of psychology and ecology — seriously. The University of Essex has found that hospital patients with rural views had significantly lower blood pressures than those without. Meanwhile, researchers in Chicago found that those who lived closer to trees were less fearful of crime, suffered less domestic violence and were more sociable. ‘Without vegetation, people are different beings,’ researcher Francis Kuo told The Independent.
Don’t have a bluebell-carpeted woodland or shimmering lake just outside? Don’t despair, even the smallest patch of green will give you a boost. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some blossoms to see to.
*Apologies to our colleague Rebecca who was in the Highlands, 2 degrees and snow.
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