Restoration from spending time in nature is not a new idea, it has probably been around as long as urbanization and development. Nature was the inspiration for art, music and literature. However, the consideration of nature in medical practices has only been studied extensively in the last century. The healing effect of nature and the potential for physiological treatment began when it was noticed that patients in hospital rooms with windows reported faster recovery from illness than those without windows by Robert Ulrich in the 1980s. This has led to a series of experiments that suggest that nature, whether a national forest, a neighborhood park, a garden, or even a window or houseplant, can have a positive effect on the well-being of a person and on general health. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The concept of man's natural affinity with nature was first coined by Edward O Wilson in the 1980s. He called it the Biophilia Hypothesis, or the biophilia effect. Research on biophilia suggests that visual stimuli such as sunlight, greenery even through windows, auditory stimuli that sound like nature such as crashing waves or bird calls, or activities that involve contact with nature such as Gardening can all reduce stress and negative feelings (Wilson). Today there is enough evidence to suggest that professionals come to give a prescription for nature to patients suffering from anxiety. Biophilia has had a major impact on architecture and design, there has been a push to build hospitals and health programs using billiphia principles: biophilic design. Positive emotional states induced by natural stimuli are part of the mechanism behind Ulrich's finding that hospital patients with greater access to natural stimuli had a shorter recovery after surgeries, complained less, had fewer complications , were less likely to be hospitalized and required less pain medication (Ulrich). Research suggests that the explanation for these surprising responses is that the positive experiences offered by natural environments distract patients from stressful or painful situations. Another study showed that dental patients had lower heart rate variability and reported better emotional states when there was exposure to natural office environments. Patients were more relaxed when they had an image of a forest in the room than when the wall was left blank. It is possible that their attention was more focused on the pleasant natural stimulus and less on the painful or stressful dental procedure. Beyond healthcare, biophilic design has been implemented in offices, schools and retirement homes to improve the well-being of people in stressful environments by bringing them closer to nature. The importance of the quality of spaces intended for the homeless such as shelters, clinics, navigation centers etc. is a concern among service providers. Building surveys that promote healthy living and better well-being for this vulnerable and stressed group could have important implications: Better management of homeless populations brings people closer to getting help. As I have discussed previously, homeless populations have higher rates of physical, mental, and emotional health problems. These problems can be positively or negatively influenced by the surrounding physical environment. Nature and natural elements inshelters could have implications for improved well-being and behavior. One study showed that prisoners with a cell window overlooking the rural landscape compared to the concrete courtyard or without a window showed fewer symptoms of stress such as digestive diseases, headaches, skin problems. rashes and fewer nurse visits. Small changes in the surrounding environment can have a big overall impact on a person's ability to feel safe and well enough to calm down and get the help they need. The Biophilia hypothesis and design state that physical environments impact individuals' stress levels and emotional states. Recent research indicates that the natural environment may also play a more direct role in reducing and recovering from physiological stress and mental exhaustion. Building on the ideas of biophilia, stress recovery theory and attention restoration theory are more recent models that further distinguish the relationship between stress, well-being, and natural environments. Urban environments usually include intense and frequent stressors such as loud noises, lots of distracting movement, and bright colors that attract attention. These characteristics require mental energy on the part of the person to process, filter, and make sense of much information. Natural environments, on the contrary, offer less demanding, softer and more pleasant stimuli. For this reason, nature has been found to reduce distress and restore attention. Natural environments reduce physiological symptoms of stress such as SNS activation, cortisol levels, and brain activity associated with stress responses. Spending time in nature also improves mood and restores some of the declines in cognitive ability that accompany chronic stress. In summary, there are many psychological, emotional, cognitive, physiological and behavioral benefits to spending time in nature. “Stress” in the stress reduction and attention restoration model differs from the physiological model which is characterized by hormonal, blood, nerve, and bodily responses. Stress in these models is thought of as an interaction between person and environment that causes the person to feel threatened enough to require energy from the body. Exposure to nature can help a person cope and manage stress. According to arousal theory, being in nature deactivates the stress response and activates the parasympathetic system; and that with frequent weather around natural elements the excitement is less severe and the return to equilibrium occurs more quickly. These effects are attributed to the qualities of natural environments. Natural environments tend to have less challenging stimuli, less complexity, less intense or rapid movements than urban environments. Faster recovery after activation of the stress response occurs because natural environments are less stimulating. Too many stimuli tax the brain and require more direct attention causing cognitive overload. Rachel and Stephen Kaplan developed the ART. When they discovered that people prefer depictions of nature over industrial scenes. In further studies, they found that exposure to nature improves concentration. Their theory is based on the concept that a person has two types of attention: voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary attention requires less effort, but involuntary or directed attention requires more cognitive energy and causes mental overload. Mental fatigue makes people more susceptible to stress and increases arousal. Likewise, mental fatigue depletes cognitive energy that could be used to manage itdaily stress. Negative emotions associated with mental overload such as irritability, impulsivity, impatience, reduced tolerance or frustration, reduced empathy, decreased altruistic and interpersonal behaviors, decreased cognitive performance, increased risk-taking behavior, general incompetence, and lack of functionality. The result is negative moods and feelings, decreased work performance and interpersonal relationships. Nature activates involuntary attention that protects a person from mental fatigue; in contrast, urban environments require more voluntary attention. The quality of nature that attracts attention rather than demands it is called “soft charm.” In nature, the executive cognitive system is deactivated, negative thoughts and emotions are reduced. In addition to the soft charm, nature is classified by other “restorative factors”. One of these factors is the feeling of “being far away”. Escaping the demands of the world can allow someone to clear their mind and regain focus. Another factor is the "measure" or feeling of immersing oneself in nature and welcoming it with all the senses. The final factor defined in the ART model is “compatibility,” which is a person's inclination to be in nature and enjoy it. Positive changes in emotional states are fundamental for recovery from psychophysiological stress. Exposure to natural stimuli can mediate the negative effect of stress by reducing negative mood and at the same time enhancing positive emotions. Spending time in nature has been shown to suppress a state of brain activation associated with repetitive, negative thoughts and rumination. These findings have had implications for practice. For example, children who played in highly natural schoolyards showed fewer attention and concentration problems and improved cognitive and physical functioning than children who played in less natural schoolyards. In the workplace, viewing natural elements has been found to mitigate the negative impact of work stress. , intention to quit and had a positive effect on general well-being and cognitive functioning. Research has shown that natural environments could have restorative effects that include increased performance on tasks that require attention and cognitive processing. Cognitive restoration following visual exposure to the natural environment, as reflected in improved performance on attention tasks, has been established in a variety of experimental studies involving the use of videos or real excursions or image presentations of scenes natural. Nature not only has direct effects on stress recovery and restoration of mental fatigue, but can also have indirect effects by acting as a buffer against the health impacts of stressful events. Many people seek nature in time for stress. Unfortunately, due to increasing urbanization, the lives of homeless people have become increasingly distant from green environments. Limited access to green spaces can increase people's vulnerability to the impact of stressful life events and environmental stressors that affect physical and psychological well-being. Greater accessibility to park/forest-like areas is related to greater happiness, lower stress, anger, depression and tension, improved mood and concentration. This can have positive effects on a sense of control, privacy, encouraging personal relationships and exercise, and providing natural and engaging distractions that promote positive emotions and mood. Loss of control and lack of privacy can exacerbate stress and threaten abilityof the individual to cope with stressful situations. Exposure to nature offers the opportunity to show control through a “temporary distancing” or “temporary escape” from reality. Getting away from habits/routines means moving away from the source of stress. There are also social benefits. Outdoor spaces and gardens can promote social relationships and strengthen a sense of community. Mental health services engage in nature-related programs (horticulture, gardening) to provide opportunities that improve multiple aspects of health and well-being, increase constructive interpersonal relationships that improve social inclusion and support the de-stigmatization of mental illnesses . Participants benefit from increased positive emotions, expand healthy relationships with peers and staff, improve physical activity, have greater engagement in community familiarity, and display skills that enable community acceptance and the perception of being part of the community. Active participation in nature has also been found to reduce mental distress, increase self-confidence, and improve participants' physical health. Nature has an effect on physiology, Exposure to natural environments had a direct influence on urinary and blood levels of cortisol, a stress-related hormone. More recently, literature has shown that regardless of the type of exposure: plants, posters, slides, videos, VR settings or visualizations of natural environments/stimuli, people experience a general reduction in symptoms related to psycho-physiological stress. Natural environments elicit greater calming physiological and psychological responses than urban environments. SRT proposes that perceiving particular qualities and contents of a place can promote recovery from physiological stress. Using a paradigm in which stressed individuals were exposed to simulations of natural or urban environments, Ulrich encompassed the range of restorative effects of natural environments on humans. Research has shown different rates of recovery from stress depending on the type of environmental exposure. Physiological measures of stress (eg, electromyography, skin conductance response, pulse transit time, cardiac response, partial thromboplastin time) indicated that recovery was more rapid and complete under conditions of exposure to the natural environment, even when recovery was measured over a 10-minute period only. In the first minutes of recovery, the response of the parasympathetic component to natural environments was recorded, while there was no evidence of involvement of the parasympathetic in response to urban environments. The parasympathetic system, often called “rest and digest” is the branch of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) responsible for recovery and returning to a balanced state (homeostasis) after experiencing a stressful situation; it reacts to bring the body back to a state of balance by slowing the heart rate, dilating blood vessels, activating digestion and storing energy. In contrast, the sympathetic system, the other branch of the autonomic nervous system, activates in response to stressors; It is also known as the “fight or flight” response, because its activation is central to the laborious mobilization involved in responding to unexpected stressful events. The relaxing effect of nature is also supported by electroencephalogram (EEG) data. EEG measurements are sensitive to conditions such as fatigue and sleep deprivation. If so, perhaps neurophysiological measures, such as EEG or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), could be used to differentiate stressful states of the organism from normal or.