Joined by conservationist Merlin Hanbury-Tenison and neuroscientist Katherine Templar Lewis, Joe investigates what green spaces can do for our brains.
Neuroscientist
As a cognitive neuroscientist and science communicator, Katherine explores how our external environment influences our emotional well-being. In this episode, she fits Joe with a multi-sensor EEG headband to track his brainwaves, revealing how brief immersion in nature dramatically reduced his cognitive load… and doubled calm-associated left-frontal alpha activity in his brain.
Wildlife presenter
Nadeem Perera is a wildlife expert, author, and co-founder of the inclusive birdwatching collective Flock Together. In this episode, he takes Joe birding at an urban London reservoir to spot swifts, demonstrating how accessible city wildlife and listening to birdsong can ease stress and ground our mental state.
Conservationist
While dealing with his own complex PTSD, military veteran Merlin Hanbury-Tenison discovered the benefits of immersive wilderness therapy in a fragment of Atlantic temperate rainforest found on his family’s farm in Cornwall. He’s since founded the Thousand Year Trust to restore Britain’s rainforests and runs multi-day nature retreats for veterans in Cornwall. In this episode, he hosts Joe for a 24-hour digital detox, guiding him through sensory forest bathing, cold-river swimming, and the healing power of unplugging in wild spaces.
Bring some calm (and greenery) into your day with three simple tips from Katherine Templar Lewis.
You don’t need long. Try to find a green space that’s near your office: if it has trees that’s even better, as there’s some evidence that breathing in phytoncides – the natural antimicrobial compounds trees release – can lower cortisol levels and give your immune system a subtle boost.
Even a single potted plant on your desk is a good start: there’s evidence that having greenery around your workspace, for instance, can reduce stress.
“The more you engage in the sights, the smells, the sounds, the more benefit you're going to get out of it,” says Katherine Templar Lewis. Keep your phone in your bag, and you’ll be less tempted to grab it for a quick scroll.
Separating social media trends from evidence-backed advice to find out what can actually work when it comes to our health.
