Each year, the Nautilus Book Awards honor and celebrate books with a focus on conscious living towards social change, wellness, social justice, and spiritual growth. This year, Marc Berman (Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology and Lead Investigator at the Center for Practical Wisdom of Core Project IV: Effect of nature on increasing perseverance and reflection for wisdom) was honored with the silver award in Category 12: Health, Healing, & Wellness for his recent book titled Nature and the mind: The science of how nature improves cognitive, physical, and social well being.
For more than 20 years, the Nautilus Book awards has promoted books to inspire families, communities, and global citizens towards sustainability and and wellness.
About the book:
Dr. Marc Berman, the pioneering creator of the field of environmental neuroscience, has discovered the surprising connection between mind, body, and environment, with a special emphasis on the natural environment. He has devoted his life to studying it. If you sometimes feel drained, distracted, or depressed, Dr. Berman has identified the elements of a “nature prescription” that can boost your energy, sharpen your focus, change your mood, and improve your mental and physical health. He also reveals how central attention is to all of these functions, and how interactions with nature can restore it. Nature and the Mind is both an introduction to a revolutionary new scientific field and a helpful guide to better living.
In these pages, he draws on his original research and research from others and shares life-altering findings such as:
-Just eleven more trees on your street can decrease cardio-metabolic disorders like stroke, diabetes, and heart disease.
-A short walk in nature can improve attention by almost twenty percent, decrease depression symptoms, and make people feel more spiritual and self-reflective.
-More greenspace around schools and homes is related to better school performance, reduced crime, and improved working memory.
-Many of these effects can be achieved even if you don’t like nature.
With an engaging and approachable style, Dr. Berman offers the nature prescription for physical health, mental health, and social health. Importantly, you don’t have to pack up your house and move to the country to participate. The nature prescription includes practical ways to bring the outside indoors and to “naturize” our spaces, no matter where you live. The positive effects of nature don’t just end at the individual; contact with nature can make people more caring towards one another, promote economic and racial justice, encourage people to care more for the environment, and more.
For more information on the book awards, please visit https://www.nautilusbookawards.com