What is Green Mind Study ?
Although humans are able to cope-up with modernity, some exposure to wild can dramatically improve the life. ‘What could be that exposure?’ is the objective of this study.
Flow of Life
All life emerged from nature and is interdependent by design. Circadian rhythm, homeostasis and gene switching are quite a lot responsive to factors in nature; whereas, modernity/urbanization/ domestication has dramatically reduced the nature exposure and made life sedentary and indoor.
I see greenery around me
Wild isn’t only about greenness, it includes beauty, diversity, mystery, uncertainty and risks, which attunes mind to act differently – in a focused meditative state, in here and now; and hence, bringing coherence and defragmentation, refining intuition and intelligence simultaneously, and so the IQ and EQ.
Prototype
A preliminary study conducted by MoodForest showed significant changes in sleep quality, life outlook, mood stability, happiness and purposefulness. Participants also felt toned-up in their bodies.
MOODFOREST MODEL
Wilderness, emotional health and homeostasis hypothesis.
Exploring the effect of wilderness, community living and green workouts.
Preliminary findings
A daily diary study was conducted to assess the effects of nature on our psychological well-being. The objective was to study whether, and to what extent, an exposure to nature improves individual self-regulation, affect, and mental health. For this study 13 individuals (M = 34.92 years, SD = 11.77) which included 7 males and 6 females were recruited to participate and live at a pristine nature retreat center for 6 days. 14 repeated measures ANOVA tests were used to assess the presence and extent of nature’s effect on the three outcome domains.
Mental Distress
Decreased 70.1% while in forest. 48.6% decrease was sustained on returning back to city.
(F (3, 36) = 29.490, p <.001, n2 = 0.688)
Mental Well-being
increased 33.8% while in forest. 27.6% increase was sustained on returning back to city.
(F (3, 36) = 10.187, p = 0.002, n2 = 0.459)
Positive Affect
increased 27.6% while in forest. 18.5% increase was sustained on returning back to city.
(F (2,24) =8.042, p = 0.002, n2= 0.401)
Negative Affect
decreased 23.4% while in forest. 26.5% decrease was sustained on returning back to city.
(F (2,24) =6.217, p = 0.007, n2= 0.341)
Cognitive Appraisal
increased 40% while in forest. 28.9% increase was sustained on returning back to city.
(F (3,36) = 11.724, p < .001, n2 = 0.494)
Sleep Quality
increased 31.4% while in forest. 31% increase was sustained on returning back to city.
(F (2, 24) = 23.584, p <.001, n2= 0.663)
Study Design 2023
The study is divided into two tracks: Elementary and Intensive.
Elementary
11 Weeks with 1 week forest exposure.
2 w (city) + 1 w (forest) + 8 w (city)
For: People of all age groups.
Intensive
1 year with 3 forest exposures of 1-to-2-weeks: 1 m (city) + 1 or 2 w (forest) + 3 m (city) + 1 or 2 w (forest) + 3 m (city) + 1 or 2 w (forest) + 3 m (city)
For: Professionals at demanding positions requiring high IQ and high EQ
w: week | m: month
Venues
The idea is to create a multi-centric study and collect evidence of the effectiveness from multiple bio-regions.
How To Join
As Collaborators/Sponsors
We wish to partner with entrepreneurs and academicians to scale-up and widen the research. Sponsorship to support the study is welcome from individuals and organisations.
As Study Participants
We invite both individual as well as organisational participation. The study could be tailor-made for professionals from specific sectors.
As Volunteers
Volunteers are needed towards physical, digital & medical support.
What Is The Challenge?
Modernity is extremely advantageous to humanity in many ways: electricity, internet, airplanes, pharmaceuticals and much more.
However, the human biological design, like that of all other animals, still remains dominated by the ancient genome.
While still holding/maintaining the same old biology we have made two critical changes in our lifestyle: we have become a lot more sedentary and spend more time indoors.
This is probably affecting/impacting the switching of many genes and thereby giving rise to various emotional and physiological ailments.
Sedentary
Estimated total sitting time increased from 2007 to 2016 around the world (from 7.0 to 8.2 h/d among adolescents and from 5.5 to 6.4 h/d among adults).
Indoor
The ill-effects of staying indoor were clearly felt during the COVID-19 pandemic.
What Is The Research Vision?
The attempt of this action research is to create small ‘wilderness modules’ along with dosages. We propose that this could significantly help humanity come out of many modern emotional and physiological ailments.
Data Analysis
Analyzing raw data of wilderness exposure experiences at Sehatvan of last five years
Estimation & Expression
Designing models for estimation and expression of wilderness, emotional health and homeostasis.
Experimental Set-up
Setting-up a Mood Forest laboratory for conducting controlled experiments.
Module Design
Designing wilderness delivery modules with optimized dosages
Delivery Linkages
Setting-up or linking many tiny forests for continued studies and deliveries.
Green Mind Study
Although humans are able to cope-up with modernity, some exposure to wild can dramatically improve the life. ‘What could be that exposure?’ is the objective of this study.
A Journey to Discover the Answer: What Could Be That Exposure?