Name ________________________
General English: Quiz 3
READING: 3 Parts (Pre, While, and Post-reading) (20 points)
PART 1: Do the pre-reading steps: (1 point)
(1) Skim (underline the first 1-2 sentences of each paragraph)
(2) Scan (circle names, dates, and numbers)
(3) Highlight (recent vocabulary, signal words, and comparative adjectives)
How Nature Resets Our Minds and Bodies
Adam Alter
MARCH 29, 2013
1
Paoli, Pennsylvania, is a small town with a local hospital. Patients there usually recover in some
rooms which are in front of a small courtyard1. In the early 1980s, a researcher visited the hospital
to see how much time it took for patients to recover.
2
Some patients took longer to recover than others, and the researcher wondered whether small
differences between the hospital rooms might explain this difference. One difference was the view
outside the window of the rooms. Some of the rooms faced onto just a brick wall, but other rooms
faced a small row of trees. The rooms were similar except for their views out the window.
3
Researchers were surprised because patients recovered at different times. On average, those who
faced the brick wall needed one extra day to recover before they returned home. They were also
more depressed and experienced more pain. Their nurses wrote four negative notes per patient,
such as "needs more encouragement" and "upset and crying.” However, the patients who had a view
of the trees received negative notes only once during their stay. Meanwhile, very few of the patients
who looked at the trees required more than a single dose2 of strong painkillers during the middle part
of their stay, but those facing the wall required two or even three doses.
4
Besides the type of view that they had, the patients were very similar, and they had received the
same treatment at the hospital. Patients who looked out at a stand of trees recovered more quickly
than patients who looked at man-made surroundings. This is because their room had a view of
nature.
Studies on Nature and Healing
5
People are usually skeptical of strong results, but studies support the benefits of natural
environments on mental health. In one of those studies, two environmental psychologists studied 337
sets of parents who lived with their children in five small towns in New York. They looked at each
family’s home, and scored “how much nature” the house had. For example, the family’s home earned
more points if it had natural views, indoor plants, or grass-covered yards. All of the families were
experiencing poverty in some way. However, when the researchers measured the happiness of the
children in those families, the children were happier when they grew up in more natural
environments. Children who grew up with nature around them were able to deal with stress at
school. In contrast, children who grew up in bigger cities had higher stress.
Natural and Man-Made Environments
6
Natural environments have special features that are different from man-made locations. One
psychologist named Dr. William James explained that human attention has two forms. First, people
have “directed attention,” which helps us focus on tasks like driving, writing, and reading a book.
Second, people have “involuntary attention,” which comes easily and doesn't require much mental
effort. As James explained, when we see "strange things, moving things, wild animals, bright things,
and pretty things,” these things attract our attention without our effort. However, forests, streams,
rivers, lakes, and oceans are still interesting and attention-grabbing.
7
Natural and city locations are different because our attention and focus are different in each place.
In short, man-made landscapes hit us with stimulation that we “must” respond to, but in nature, we
can choose how much we think, and this freedom can help us recharge our mental energy.
Forest Healing in Japan
8
9
Natural therapy in Japan has been practiced for thousands of years. Healers say that humans have
been living in natural environments for 99.99 percent of our history. The Japanese version of natural
therapy is called shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing. Patients walk and breathe forest air for long periods
of time. Researchers have found that patients enjoy a wide range of benefits. The patients had
lower blood pressure, lower pulse rates, and lower cortisol levels, and reduced stress. People who
are exposed to natural scenes aren't just happier; their body chemistry has actually changed.
Natural environments can increase calmness and well-being in part because they give people lower
levels of stress to deal with. Humans thrive5 with some stimulation6, but too much stress can push
us from comfortable eustress (good stress) to distress (bad stress). Nature may not cure everything,
but it's an inexpensive tool for reducing illness and stress. Based on these results, nature can be a
way to heal from the stress of life.
Glossary
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
a courtyard (n)
dose (n)
attention deficit disorder (ADD)
threats (n)
to thrive (v)
stimulation (n)
= an area in the middle of a building which has trees and plants
= a shot or each time that you take a medication
= you can only keep focused for a short time (a health condition)
= things that can harm us
= to live very well, to be very healthy
= things that happen; you must respond to these things