Forest therapy: Why a physician wants more doctors to train in nature-based medicine

A Boston hospital fights staff burnout and boosts patient morale with forest bathing — getting people outside for some time in nature. SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST: Doctors spend years studying the biology and chemistry of our bodies and then learning how to fix them. Their training rarely includes what's known as nature-based medicine. A doctor in Boston wants to change that. From member station WBUR, Martha Bebinger reports. MARTHA BEBINGER, BYLINE: On a bright but chilly spring afternoon, 11 young doctors and medical students in blue scrubs or sweats stand in a circle beneath towering fir, spruce and pine trees. They've rushed to complete patient charts and brief colleagues at the hospital across the street... (SOUNDBITE OF SIRENS WAILING) BEBINGER: ...So they can be here in Boston's Arnold Arboretum to experience forest therapy. SUSAN ABOOKIRE: Now, imagine that your body has roots and begin to watch those roots tunnel down into the Earth. BEBINGER: Dr. Susan Abookire spent more than 20 years in hospital leadership roles before becoming a certified forest therapy guide. It's a more structured version of the Japanese practice called forest bathing. Today, Abookire aims to steer these stressed physicians away from test results and beeping monitors to the breeze moving across their skin, the smell of tree oils that boost immunity and sounds that relieve anxiety - all elements that hundreds of studies link to better health. …