#409 Breast Cancer, Wellness and Nature Deficit Disorder

Episode Overview

Have you ever felt like you just breathe easier when you step outside? There's a reason for that—and it’s much deeper than simply “liking” nature.

In this episode, we dive into why humans are biologically wired to crave nature and what happens when we ignore that inner pull for too long.

We’ll explore the science behind Nature Deficit Disorder, the powerful mind-body effects of spending time outside, and how reconnecting with the natural world can support emotional, metabolic, and immune health—especially after breast cancer.

You'll hear about:

What Nature Deficit Disorder is and why it matters
The science behind our innate drive to seek connection with the earth
How chronic indoor living impacts your stress levels, sleep, mood, and immunity
Why just 120 minutes of nature exposure per week can boost your health (Scientific Reports study)
What happens in your brain when you spend time outside (NIH article on reduced rumination)
Practical, simple ways to reconnect with nature no matter where you live

🌿 Ready to feel calmer, clearer, and more connected?
Tune in and rediscover the natural healing that's been waiting for you all along.

Resources and Studies Mentioned in This Episode:

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Read the full transcript:

0:00
You're listening to better than before breast cancer with the breast cancer recovery coach, I'm your host, Laura Lummer. I'm a certified life coach, and I'm a breast cancer thriver. In this podcast, I will give you the skills on the insides and the tools to move past the emotional and physical trauma of a breast cancer diagnosis if you're looking for a way to create a life that's even better than before breast cancer, you've come to the right place. Let's get started.

0:33
Hey friends, welcome to episode 409, of better than before breast cancer, with the breast cancer recovery coach. I'm your host, Laura Lummer, and I gotta tell you, today I'm coming back from a beautiful walk on the beach. It's sunny, it's clear, it's gorgeous outside. It's a little on the chilly side still, but definitely Spring is coming. This past weekend, I usually host a group coaching call on Saturday mornings with my Empower group of ladies, and it was kind of cool because so many of them were posting in their Facebook group that, hey, I won't make the call today because I'm outside, right? I'm outside camping, I'm outside with friends. I'm traveling here, and it's so nice to see people getting outdoors, because a lot of times I'm on calls, especially lately, as we're going through the winter, and I talk with my clients about how hard it is on them when it's too cold outside and they can't get outside and they haven't been outside in a while. And I think this is something that's really important to talk about, because we hear about seasonal affective disorder, but I want to talk to you about something, and this phrase that I heard recently and read about that's called nature deficit disorder, and I'll get into that in a minute, but I wanted to do this show because I want to convey and help you understand and put some science behind it. This isn't just hippy dippy stuff, but I want you to understand the science about the importance of being in nature and how that serves our health and well being, and what happens when we don't prioritize it. So we are actually meant to feel better in nature and when we don't prioritize it, or when life keeps us inside, like because of work, I often think about when I was working in my corporate job, and I'd leave my house at 530 in the morning so I could go to the gym before I'd go to work, and I get home at eight o'clock at night, and at certain times of the year that was leaving the house in the dark, coming home in the dark, and I was never outside. No wonder why I ended up sick. So sometimes we're stuck inside because of work, and we don't make it intentional to get out, even at lunch, or for a quick walk or a five minute break or just something to have the sunshine on us, technology, all of this stuff, even health, going through different treatments, feeling weak, feeling like we don't have the energy to get up and go outside. All of this can help to keep us inside. And our minds and our bodies truly do feel that effect. So I want to talk to you today about why we are actually wired to seek nature and what happens when we avoid it or when we just aren't intentional about participating and soaking up nature, and how we can rebuild that connection as a key part of our healing, especially after a cancer diagnosis or during one so let's talk about why we're drawn to nature. And there's actually a name for this. It's called Biophilia. This term was popularized by a Harvard biologist named Edward O Wilson, and he proposed that humans have an innate biological need to connect with nature and other forms of life. So think about it, our ancestors didn't live in buildings under artificial lights surrounded by screens and technology, air conditioned environments. For most of human history, we lived in rhythm with the sun, the seasons, the soil and the natural cycles of the earth. It is literally in our DNA to be outdoors, and research supports this. So in a 2017 study that was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, they talked about the fact that the brain actually shows reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain linked to rumination and overthinking. There was reduced activity in this part of the brain after walking in nature. This study said that nature exposure is associated with decreased anxiety, improved attention and a sense of calm rooted in our evolutionary biology that's really impactful. And when I read that, it made me think about a book that I recently read and I'll link to in the show notes for this episode, called the anxious generation. And it talks a lot about the anxiety that the younger generations experience and live with, and some of the reasons why. But if you think about the fact that, as a kid, you know, and I think most of people my age, I'm 61 years old, most of people born in the 1960s probably still in the 1970s we were told when, you know we weren't at school, we were like, get outside and be home when the street lights come on, right? That was the alarm. It's time to go home. The street lights are on. So now we have generations that are really being raised indoors, and we have to think about the fact that nature actually quiets the mental noise, not just emotionally, but neurologically that neuroplasticity the way that it wires our brain. So what happens when we stay inside too much? This is where we start to see the real consequences of what the author, Richard love coined, nature deficit disorder. This is a term that describes physical, mental and emotional tolls of being disconnected from the natural world. His book is called The Last Child in the Woods. So let's break it down. Here are some of the things that happen when we are disconnected with nature. Spending most of our time indoors has been linked with increased depression, anxiety and irritability, and without natural light and fresh air, our serotonin levels can actually drop, and we're often over stimulated by screens and under stimulated by the things our brain actually needs, which is movement, light, color and calm. What is nature calm? Right? Why don't we stare at fish tanks? Because it's calming. We actually experience sleep disruption when we're deprived from being in nature for too long, natural sunlight helps to regulate melatonin and cortisol, the hormones that govern our sleep wake cycle. So without regular sun exposure, our circadian rhythm gets thrown off. In 2013 there was a study that was published in Current Biology, and it showed that even a weekend of camping can reset the circadian rhythm and help people fall asleep faster and sleep more deeply. Being deprived from nature can weaken our immunity and increase inflammation. When we avoid nature, we actually miss out on immune boosting effects like being exposed to the compounds that plants release, which have been shown to increase natural killer cell activity. There was a 2009 study that found participants who spent time in forests had significantly increased immune function compared to those in urban environments. And that study said that forest bathing increased natural killer cell activity and expression of anti cancer proteins with effects lasting up to 30 days. That's pretty dang impressive. And so here's the good news, even if you've been inside for a really long time, even if you've spent years, let's say years, recovering from treatments that left you too exhausted to go outside, to expose yourself to nature, your body still hasn't forgotten the call of the wild, the instinct to seek out sunlight, green space, bird songs, water and trees. It isn't a luxury. It's not even just a mood booster. It is literally biological medicine. In fact, there was a 2019 study in Scientific Reports that found that just 120 minutes a week in nature broken up in any way you like, 10 minutes here and there was enough to significantly increase health and well being scores. Now, I think I've talked before on the podcast about how taking my morning walks on the beach is something that's so important to me. Most of my life, I was just determined to one day be able to live at the beach so I could see the ocean every day. But when I was originally diagnosed with advanced stage four cancer, and my right lung was partially collapsed and my chest was full of fluid, it became a little challenging to take my daily walks. And I would notice even that my mind would say, Well, what if I walk out on the beach and I'm too tired to come back, what if I can't catch my breath and I can't make it back. And so I had to really work through that and kind of tell myself or offer myself ideas that would support me and say, Okay, take your phone with you if you get out onto the beach and there's any kind of distress, you can call for help if you get tired or you get short of breath, you could sit down and rest, and you can shorten your walks, right? I had to come up with all different kinds of solutions to the fears that were coming up in my brain because I wanted to be outside it. I truly believe my feet in the ocean and in the sound. This is just part of my healing practice, connecting with nature every single day and the energy of the ocean. And it doesn't have to be ocean energy, forest energy, Lake energy, backyard energy, just nature and those wonderful negative ions that the Earth emits that help to reduce inflammation. And support our health. This was a very important part of my practice. So even if you're not feeling well, if your energy is really low, you can go outside and just sit in a chair, lay on a lounge chair, soak up the sun, breathe in the fresh air. Small exposures to nature are incredibly valuable during the winter, for some of you that live in super cold environments, of course, this is more difficult. I'll joke around, well, kind of joking with some of my clients sometimes, and I say, Well, you get natural cryotherapy, so bundle up and protect sensitive parts of yourself and stand outside for two minutes or two and a half minutes and take in a deep breath. It's not always going to be easy, and definitely going for long walks in nature when it's super cold is not going to be doable. But finding ways wherever you can, as much as you can and as often as you can, to intentionally get outside is so valuable for us, so especially if you're at work and you're closed in with artificial lights and windows that don't open, making a point of taking a lunch break, because way too many people deprive themselves from even taking breaks, which you are so entitled to and your brain needs, and it will help you come back to work and be even more productive. So take that break and support yourself by getting outside. And since we're talking about how to get outside, let's cover a few simple ways to rebuild the relationship with nature. Morning sunlight super important. Can you step outside within an hour of waking up and really anchor your circadian rhythm to that of the Earth? I'm so fortunate that my bedroom window faces where the sun rises, so the first thing I do every morning is open my blinds, because it's usually dark when I wake up and I go and I get my coffee, and as I'm doing my morning journaling and my ozone therapy and my ultrasound treatments, I watch the sun come up out the window before I go outside and head to the gym or for my walk on the beach. But just seeing that sunrise and even being outside. Sometimes I'll walk the dogs outside and watch the sunrise. It's just lovely, and it just is a great way to start your day and align and anchor your circadian rhythm to that of the Earth to which we are so connected and need to be connected to. Another tip, go for a screen free walk. Take a 1520 minute walk during the day without your phone. You know, one time, my mom said to me that she was trying to walk more and she didn't feel safe because of her physical condition, the state of her health at the time, so she would just walk around in her backyard. Wonderful walk outside in your backyard. This simple practice can help reduce cortisol, that stress hormone and helps to regulate blood sugar, so take some time to be barefoot. You know, as kids, how many times do we try to go outside barefoot in our parents that put your shoes on, but actually, that practice of earthing barefoot time standing or sitting on soil, sand, grass, studies have shown that this helps to reduce inflammation and improve sleep. This is part of that grounding of soaking up negative this is why people use grounding mats and grounding sheets, which can actually help to increase recovery from injuries and reduce inflammation. Bring nature inside your house. Bring in house plants, wood, shells, stones, flowers. Treat yourself to fresh flowers in the house. I If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you may have seen some reels or some videos of something I treated myself to for my birthday last year, which was a hydroponic garden. I live in a condo, so I have a balcony, but it's not a lot of space out there. And so I got a hydroponic garden. That's an indoor garden. I cannot tell you how much I love that garden, how much I love just connecting to it every day, tenting to it. I might have vegetable producing plants in there. And so picking cucumbers from my garden, strawberries, I have pablono peppers growing up, baby egg plants growing and just literally cutting my salad out of my hydroponic garden on a regular basis. Amazing. It means so much to me. Think about soundscapes like opening a window or even just playing nature sounds if it's too cold to open a window, ocean waves, rain, that background noise that we call it white noise, but nature noise in the background. It really helps that sound frequency is something that really resonates with our biological bodies. Think about watching the sky by, as already mentioned, waking up to watch the sunrise or make connection with the sunshine as soon as you get up, but by starting and ending your day by looking outside, seeing the sun rise, seeing the sunset, or just looking up and taking in the stars or taking in the moon, connecting with the energy of nature. So if you find yourself feeling anxious, feeling overwhelmed, sluggish or disconnected, ask yourself, when was the last time you stepped outside just to be in nature? Or not just walk to the car to go to the grocery store, but just to spend time in nature. So this isn't about putting pressure on yourself to do more, but it's about returning to what your body already knows. Nature doesn't ask you to be productive, brave, strong, think something, solve something. It just invites you to be present, to be here and now, and so when we intentionally go out into nature without our devices, without our phones, without checking text messages, but just allow ourselves to connect, there's something that happens inside of us, and it's a biological need. So I hope that you give yourself permission to take that invitation to be out in nature today and a little bit every day, step outside, let the sunlight touch your face, let your bare feet touch the earth and remind your body and your soul. The healing is around you, and it's flourishing, and it's happening all the time. So enjoy the simple practice of supporting an overall healthy lifestyle. And I'll talk to you again next week, and until then, be good to yourself. I'll talk to you soon.

#409 Breast Cancer, Wellness and Nature Deficit Disorder

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