Secrets of the forest

The old folk wisdom “Healing lies in nature” has now been confirmed by science as well.

A study now proves for the first time the positive influence of the forest on human health. According to the study on the “health effects of forest landscapes” (Gesundheitswirkung von Waldlandschaften), carried out by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) together with the public health institute of the Medical University, spending time in a forest has positive effects on people’s mental, physical and social health and thus promotes general well-being.

The forest, it seems, is an all-embracing remedy for physical as well as social problems and deficits. But that is not the only thing a forest has going for it – or rather, going on beneath it.

Dr Suzanne Simard has spent three decades researching how trees communicate with one another. She has shown that trees of the same species interact and help each other to survive. Underground there is a biological network, or biological pathways, connecting all the trees. Trees can communicate with one another along these pathways.

Simard and her team found that the entire forest floor is permeated by fungal mycelium. A handful of soil can contain kilometres of tiny threads. These threads enter into a symbiosis with the tree roots. Carbon may be transferred from one tree to another through this network whenever it is needed. Seen in this way, the forest could be regarded as one single large organism.

Simard even went so far as to say that if a tree were in danger – threatened by insects or by people – it would warn the other trees so that they could prepare for the attack.

May is just beginning. How about a healthy walk in the woods? Let’s take children along and show them the power of the forest!

FURTHER INFORMATION Find out more about the secrets of the forest in the video “Forscher entdecken etwas Unglaubliches bei Bäumen und Pflanzen” (Researchers discover something incredible about trees and plants).

TO THE VIDEO (GERMAN)