The idea of 'nature as a healer' as become a truism, often repeated without much thought given to how or why it should do so.

One man who has thought about this phenomenon — and spent much of his life researching and writing about it — is Professor Miles Richardson, a member of the psychology department at Derby University, founder of the Nature Connectedness Research Group, and author of The Blackbird's Song & Other Wonders of Nature: A Year-Round Guide to Connecting With the Natural World.

We were thrilled, then, when Miles agreed to join James Fisher on the Country Life Podcast this week.

Did you know, for example, that merely looking at a picture of a flower for a few minutes boosts your mood in very real psychological and physiological ways? Or that even when you're blindfolded, your body knows and responds to the difference between objects that are man made and those that are artificial?

It's a completely fascinating episode of the podcast which explores all this and much more.

You can find more about Miles and his work — particularly with the Nature Connectedness Research Group — at his research website, his blog and his Twitter page.

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Professor Miles Richardson

Producer and editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

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B. Grinde, R. B. Nes, I. F. MacDonald & D. S. Wilson

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