Welcome to the Brilliant Fertility Podcast. I'm your host, dr Katie Rose, and this podcast exists to help illuminate the path ahead of you. With expert interviews, clinical pearls and real client success stories, my intention is to bring you hope for what's possible on this journey and to give you tools and resources to navigate the ups and downs on the road before you. If you find this podcast helpful, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite listening platform. And I have a big request If you have a minute, can you leave us a five-star review and let us know what did you learn? What did you come away with? Did you leave with that spark of hope? This helps more people like you find the podcast. My mission is to support as many humans as possible on their path to become parents, and by you sharing and subscribing, you're part of that mission too, and I'm so grateful for you for being here here. Welcome back to the Brilliant Fertility Podcast. A question for you If there were a free, totally side effect-free practice that lowered blood pressure, regulated your nervous system and could potentially lead to better pregnancy outcomes, would you try it?

Today we're talking about forest bathing. Yeah, you heard me. Forest bathing no bathtub required. If you're watching on YouTube. I'm like full hippie today just wearing the tie-dye. Since we're talking about forest bathing, watered my plants today. Since we're talking about forest bathing, watered my plants today.

And before we dive in to the scientific benefits of forest bathing, I'll tell you why I felt the urge to just run away to the forest recently. So, as many of you listeners know, we've been in the process of building this brick and mortar building from the ground up. We're almost two years into construction. We're in the final stretch. They're telling us two weeks until completion and it has been like babysitting these motherfuckers around the clock, has been like babysitting these motherfuckers around the clock. I am doing my best to stay grounded, to use all of my tools to be kind, and the facts are like there have been so many mistakes made and such lack of accountability. It's just been wild and I was like you know what my one of my mornings opened up and I usually keep my Monday relatively free for admin and emergency purposes and it's like I am going to escape to the mountains.

So I drove up to Mount Lemmon. I had just such a lovely time for a few hours, just literally basking in the forest. Like brought my camping chairs, brought my journal packed some tea. I mean it really was lovely, lovely. Couldn't resist picking up some trash because you know I was taught you never leave a place with trash laying around, you always leave it better than you found it and overall just had a really grounded moment and in that, you know, realizing like gosh we're coming into end of summer, early fall, even if it's still 100 degrees where you are in the northern hemisphere, like the energy is still shifting, and using grounding practices are really wonderful for the stomach, spleen meridian and the traditional Chinese medicine perspective meridian and the traditional Chinese medicine perspective. So I've been talking about that a lot in practice these last couple of weeks of using grounding practices nourishing the spleen stomach.

And I was like gosh I, you know, I feel like I've heard before that there are other benefits to forest bathing and I looked it up and sure enough, we've actually got multiple studies. And I looked it up and sure enough we've actually got multiple parks not very far away. We've got Sabino Canyon, we've got Catalina State Park, we've got the Sweetwater Preserves, which is like a little wetlands that has a little more green activity and bird life. So hopefully wherever you are within 30 minutes of you. You have some green space, a park, a preserve, somewhere that you can safely take some time to bathe amongst the green, amongst the trees. So we're going to get into the research in just a moment.

Here I also want to talk about something that I'm going to be diving into with my mentor this month. There is a really fun 30-day money mindset challenge that my mentor, james Wedmore, is leading this month. I've done so many of his programs over the last few years. They've been super duper helpful and, as I am on the cusp of opening this new brick and mortar practice, I mentioned this in my Instagram stories and people were really surprised and interested in this, so I thought I would bring it up that when we have a commercial loan on a property, you don't actually know what your final mortgage payment is going to be until the very end of that building process, when you have your certificate of completion. And that's a little bit scary because we don't actually know what all of some of these change orders are going to add up to.

Things like, for example, we were misinformed about the water line actually meeting where the hookup would be for water. They had to dig into the parking lot to extend the water line to get to the property, things like that that were just like holy moly. Who knew that? That would be to the tunes of tens of thousands of dollars and so a lot of uncertainty around that. Like that's honestly another reason to run away to the mountains. For me, that coping mechanism is definitely a healthier one than you know going and grabbing a bag of cookies or just binging Netflix for four hours.

I realized that it's purely, you know, running away, but for a good cause. So when my mentor brought up this challenge in our coaching group, I was like I am so in and they've actually opened it up to the public, which I think is pretty fun and exciting, because if we can all be really honest, like money is a thing that a lot of us get weird about and there's nothing wrong with you If that has been true, if you've had stress around money, if you have a hard time talking about money or looking at your money, whatever. I don't know that many people who are just inherently born with a really great relationship around money and when I polled you guys on Instagram, 100% the most people I've ever had respond to a poll before said you wanted an episode purely about money, which we will be doing with a money coach in the coming weeks. Really excited to introduce you to her coach in the coming weeks. Really excited to introduce you to her.

In the meantime, as my mentor leads this money mindset challenge over the next 30 days, I'm going to be joining in. So I think it starts at the end of next week, like September 12th. I'm going to link it in the show notes and, uh, you know, if you want to join me, I'm going to be all in on this because I like accountability and, as I enter this new phase and new uncertainties and new overhead, I will probably need to up-level my mindset around that and be doing a lot more forced bathing to regulate my nervous system. So, looking forward to all of it, all of the growth, and when we talk about grounding and supporting the spleen, stomach energy, which tends to be very taxed by a hot, dry summer, the bathing of the trees, the grounding of like putting your feet on the earth, this is part of being a healthy member of the ecosystem. So I love the concept that we can be rooted while growing, while receiving all of the beneficial effects of the earth, of the light, from the sun, and I'm excited to share the science with you too.

So the belief origin behind forest bathing in Japanese it's referred to as shinrin yoku. I hope I'm not totally butchering that, but it's a mindful, sensory immersion in nature, having nothing to do with fitness or formal exercise, but more of a slowing down and noticing. It's a sensory experience. So the core elements of forest bathing are having an unhurried experience. Elements of forest bathing are having an unhurried experience, smelling the trees, smelling the earth, having an attention to the surroundings, the color, the lighting, and really engaging all five senses.

So what the research says? Number one we see changes in stress physiology. So repeated studies have shown that time found in nature, time in forests, reduces cortisol levels, reduces perceived stress and has consistent benefits in improving anxiety and depression. From a physical perspective of stress reduction, they found that heart rate variability improves, which is a good thing. We want increased variability that shows us we have stress resilience and systolic blood pressure goes down. So if you're someone who tends to be really triggered by stress and one of those physical manifestations is high blood pressure, heck, going into the forest for 20 minutes three times a week to bring down your blood pressure. That sounds like a win.

Another study showed that the exposure to the volatile organic scents that are emitted by trees has been linked to improved immune function and decreased cancer cell activity. How fascinating is that. And in this world where the immune system is actually quite important for fertility, we don't want someone's immune system to be overly suppressed, we don't want it to be overreactive, we want a modulated, well-responding immune system. And again, so if going out into nature a few times a week can make a difference, with that and we don't have to add another supplement and we don't have to, you know, bring more stress into the picture. This is just like like I am all for this Like this is obviously a podcast where I cannot give medical advice, as my lawyer would like me to put into every single episode.

Disclaimers about. This is not medical advice, but I can't imagine any doctor would deny the benefits based on the research that we have. So how could this potentially benefit fertility? Because we don't have direct studies relating forest bathing to improve fertility. So I don't want to give you some false narrative around. You know, go out in nature and like you're definitely going to get pregnant next cycle, like let's call out any BS. You may see around that.

But we definitely know that the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis influences the hypothalamic pituitary gonadal axis. So how the ovaries, how the testicles, are responding to hormones is absolutely influenced by your chronic stress levels, by cortisol levels. Chronic stress and cortisol inhibit the gonadotropin releasing hormone which comes from the hypothalamus. That can disrupt LH and FSH which come from the pituitary. All of you out there who are using ovulation prediction kits testing LH and FSH which come from the pituitary, all of you out there who are using ovulation prediction kits testing LH every single cycle, multiple times a cycle, you're probably intimately familiar with LH. So if there's anything that we can do to improve those hormones and how they respond and improve ovulation and luteal function, there's no doubt in my mind that forest bathing would be a very pro-fertility activity.

The idea that forest bathing can also lower blood pressure and improve heart rate variability could also mean that we have more favorable folliculogenesis, which is the growth of your follicles. So if we're in a chronically stressed state where we see the body in fight or flight mode and blood flow is then redirected in such a way that when the body is anticipating having to run or freeze, we see increased heart rate, not increased heart rate variability. We just see increased heart rate, we see blood flow going to the skeletal muscles in anticipation of that flight and we tend to see resources directed away from the reproductive organs because that's not a high priority when we are in fight or flight mode. And because of our very high stress society, this hustle culture that we're kind of grown up with and embedded in, a lot of people are living with chronic stress and not even realizing it. So some of these studies on forest bathing have shown that people who live in urban environments, you know densely populated cities, are actually the ones who benefit the most from forest bathing.

They've also found at least one small study it was a modest but significant result that residential green space exposure is linked to higher fecundability, fecundability meaning the ability to get pregnant, and so green space can just mean, like you can put a few plants in your office. At home you could plant a garden outside in your backyard or your patio. Even I started out when I very, very first started gardening with just a few pots of herbs and a couple of flowers for some color and joy. If there's a park nearby that you're safe to go, sit in and just bask under a tree or take a leisurely walk in. This doesn't mean you have to get yourself to a national park three times a week. This just means finding green space. Some reviews actually found that greener environments are also associated with healthier pregnancy outcomes so healthier birth weight, less preterm births as well outcomes. So healthier birth weight, less preterm births as well and some of the newer work shows that there may even be better semen quality. We definitely need some more evidence around that.

But using the excuse of going on a little date with your partner to bathe in some greenery, why not? So let's talk about how to practically incorporate forest bathing into your life, because we certainly don't want to just add another thing to the to-do list that adds stress or, if you don't do, it makes you feel like you're failing or you're not enough. So where can you incorporate this? There's this concept called 25-3 that I'll link in the show notes as well.

Green space, a park, a plant nursery, a preserve or just like really sitting with your home plants. I'm looking off into the distance because my office has a lot of plants in it, so I'm looking at my one of my pothos plants and my fig tree and my little agave and just really allowing you to tune into the five senses, slow down. So if you are someone who has a hard time slowing down, you find the urge to always be doing something or thinking something or looking something up. Put your phone in airplane mode, put it away. Just set a timer for 20 minutes and use your five senses to scan. So notice colors. What are five shades of green? Can you name three sounds that are really close to improve the immune system? Do you smell pine trees? Do you smell the leaves that are starting to fall from the trees breaking down in the earth? What can you touch? Can you put your hand on the bark of a tree? Can you feel the texture of a leaf between your fingers? There's probably not something you want to be tasting as you're forest bathing, unless you have something with you.

I brought my tea with me to the forest, so using proprioception as our fifth sense. So this would be the sense of your feet contacting the earth, the relation of your body to the earth, to the trees, to the plants, and then set an intention. Maybe you close down your nice, long, deep breaths. Can you carry that state into your day If you're someone who has a really busy, chock full schedule and you're like I can't sit there for 20 minutes. Can you take two to three minutes? Can you take these micro green moments, a little nature snack if you will, on your lunch break or right before, right after work? I mean, this absolutely counts.

Is there any time when you can swap your driving commute for a walk or a bike in a leisurely manner? Can you face your work station towards a window where you can see a tree? Or can maybe you just find one of those apps I use Calm, I use Insight Timer Sometimes I pull these up on YouTube where you put on a soundscape of the forest where you can hear the birds chirping and incorporate that as part of your morning or nighttime routine. You can just like nudge your nervous system towards that parasympathetic tone. And then can you take some time out once a month where you take a half day in a wild area. So with that 25-3 guideline, if we have 20 minutes three times a week, or two to three minutes today, if we're really just slowly working, this in the five in this guideline is taking a half day in a wilder area once a month. So I fully intend to, once a month at least, take my half Monday to get up into the mountain or get to our closest state park to just totally unplug. And then the three in this guideline is can you take three unplugged days every year? Go camping, rent a cabin in the woods, like go off grid and reset your circadian rhythm fully, be in nature.

Honestly, the more time I spend in nature, the more time I spend in nature, the more time I crave and I want in nature, and I didn't always used to be a nature person and you know some people might be like what, how could you never be a nature person? And others are like, yeah, I relate to that because I've actually talked to many of you who have said it's like not really like an outdoors person. I know, I know if you haven't been raised that way, or you're like, uh, bugs, dirt, you know you can totally like take a walk in a preserve that has a path that you're not getting muddy when in, or, um, you know, put some bug spray on, it's okay. I'm not too worried about periodic application of bud spray as far as an environmental concern goes, but I want you to just stay open to the benefits of this and invite your partners. This can be a stress relief activity for both of you. Maybe there's some benefits to semen quality getting out into the green, but can definitely be a bonding experience and it can be a mental health benefit for both of you. So if you decide to try forest bathing, dm me where you decide to go, where you decide to visit, send me a picture on Instagram of your forest, since I am woefully lacking in forests in my immediate surroundings. I have to, you know, drive at least an hour and a half to get to a forest, so I would love to see all of your trees. And if you're ready for some more structured support around aligning your nervous system, improving your hormone status, improving your fertility status, we can do a discovery call. I'll link it in the show notes if you're ready to chat and let's get some real chill nervous systems. I think we need it more than ever and I think that's all I have to say for today. I think that's all I have to say for today.

All right, as a little quick reminder, the 30-day Mind your Money Challenge. That's going to be linked in the show notes. It's a money mindset challenge that I'm participating in with my business mentor, but really this could be a helpful tool for anyone who is just nervous and feels like they're benefit there. They would benefit from some shifts and how they think about money and relate to money. I've actually done it once before.

I didn't complete the challenge, but two years ago I got to like day 21 and it was so good, I had so many breakthroughs, and then I got distracted, as we often do right before we get to like a really big breakthrough. So I'm looking forward to the accountability again and if you want in on that, just shoot me a DM if you need the link for it, but it'll be in the show notes as well. Sending so much love to all of you. As always, let's get out in some nature this week, this month, plan out what that's going to look like for you, and I look forward to you having a very lovely, regulated nervous system.