Diabetes and Nature Therapy
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Diabetes is an increasingly serious, potentially overwhelming condition for healthcare systems across the globe. The World Health Organization recently published data showing that approximately 150 million people in the world have diabetes mellitus. This number is projected to double by the year 2025 with most patients hailing from the developed world. LINK
Exposure to Nature significantly reduces blood glucose levels in diabetes patients.
A 1998 study by Ohtsuka, Yabunaka, and Takayama tells the story, over six years, of 87 noninsulin-dependent diabetics that were given forest therapy treatments (3 or 6 km forest walks dependent on their level of physical fitness). In six years, the team gathered data on 237 individual forest walks. LINK
On average, blood glucose levels dropped from 179 before hiking to 108 mg/dL after.
Given that Diabetes effects the lives of 150 million people and costs approximately 825 billion dollars per year - finding effective, low cost, and readily available treatments would be wise. LINK
