Biophilia: your heart calms down near living things

Biophilia means “love of life and of living things.” The psychoanalyst Erich Fromm used the word first, and the biologist Edward O. Wilson developed it: he proposed that human beings have a natural tendency to connect with plants, animals, water and light.

When we are close to nature, we tend to feel calmer. That is why Vitamin N can do us good.

Your heart listens to nature

Stress raises your blood pressure and pulse, and it wears you out. When we are calm, the heart beats more calmly. Contact with nature can help to:

• Lower stress and cortisol, the stress hormone.
• Lower blood pressure and pulse.
• Sleep better and improve your mood.
• Ease anxiety and sadness.
• Recover and get along better with others.

It does not replace your medicines or your treatment: it is an add-on.

Small doses of nature

You don’t need to travel. Small moments during the day are enough:

• Keep plants, flowers or herbs at home.
• Get 10 to 15 minutes of sunlight early in the morning, before 8 a.m. If you take medicines that make your skin more sensitive to the sun, ask your doctor.
• Listen to natural sounds, such as water, birds or rain, even on your phone.
• Look after a pet.
• Walk slowly through a park, a garden or a courtyard.
• Decorate with natural materials, such as wood, stones or flowers.
• Look at the sky, a tree or a plant while you breathe deeply.

Breathe calmly

Slow breathing is one of the simplest ways to calm your body. Try the 4-4-6 technique below; it is the same one we use in our Vitamin N activities. If you can, do it while looking at a plant, a tree or the sky.