Step outside to reduce stress
HENRYTYE GLAZEBROOK Patients of Shimi Kang sometimes see her prescriptions as unorthodox, but more often than not they agree with the results.
In her work as a Vancouverbased doctor, Kang specializes in the use of nature as a treatment for stress. When patients come to her, she’ll often send them home with a literal prescription in hand on which she tells them to spend more time outside, exploring nature.
“I will write ‘five minute walk in the trees,’ (or) ‘staring at a blade of grass.’ I usually work with my patients and ask them what appeals to them,” Kang said. “We usually discuss it and then I write it on the prescription pad. I do that to give the same level of seriousness and the same level of authority that a medication prescription would be.”
Kang is one of two keynote speakers taking part in Saskatoon’s 2015 Nature City Festival, held May 2329. In its third year, the weeklong event is an all-ages affair that includes art shows, riverboat tours, photography workshops and other opportunities for people to connect with the outside world.
According to organizer Janet McVittie, the festival is intended as a way to provide increased awareness and education on the benefits nature can have for people and the city as a whole.
“The overall goal, I think, would be to have a much healthier city — a city that is designed with all these natural features included so that people are healthier and so that the natural world is healthier,” McVittie said.
In her talk, Kang plans to emphasize how large a problem stress has become in modern society, and why this reality has led her to start prescribing a move toward experiencing more nature in everyday life alongside traditional medical treatments such as antibiotics or antidepressants.
“We are in a health crisis of lifestyle diseases. We have never seen such high rates of anxiety, depression, obesity, addiction — particularly in young people. Humans have never been meant to sit at a desk all day, inside, staring at a screen. Our lifestyles are really contributing to these lifestyle diseases,” Kang said.
Born and raised in Calgary, Kang is aware some may believe the prairies have fewer exciting natural areas to explore than she has become accustomed to in Vancouver — but rather than bemoaning Saskatchewan’s shortage of rolling hills, she said even the most ordinary experiences in nature can yield extraordinary reactions.
“I think back to my childhood, and my connection with nature was really a pile of dirt in my backyard. There was so much in that dirt. It was a whole ecosystem. It sparked curiosity. It was meditative,” Kang said.
“I think that we can find nature everywhere, and I’m looking forward to seeing the prairie skies again and the expansiveness of a place like Saskatoon.”