Nature Within: How the Natural World Shapes Our Minds, Bodies & Health

Reconnecting with Nature is the most important public health intervention of our time. Science has shown how our bodies are shaped by our environment – yet we still see ourselves as separate from the natural world. To protect human health, we need to reawaken our inner connection with Nature and prevent the destruction of our environment and the countless species we share it with. At a time of rapid, devastating changes to the environment and ecosystems we rely on, we are struggling with ever-increasing threats to our physical and mental health. More extreme temperatures result in a higher occurrence of diseases such as malaria, while climate change–related crop failures around the world lead to malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies. Worsening air pollution has caused a surge in respiratory illnesses, and new animal pathogens are emerging as humans continue to encroach on and destroy natural habitats. In Nature Within, neuroscientist and doctor James Bashford explains why these and other health problems can only be managed through centring humans within the natural world rather than in opposition to it, and through understanding the natural forces at work within our own bodies. Skilfully weaving together examples of human illnesses like motor neuron disease with nonhuman ailments like Dutch elm disease, Bashford explores how similar principles of health shape our minds and bodies. From chameleons to COVID-19, from nucleic acids to nightingales, Nature has compelling lessons to teach us. Examining human evolutionary history, he shows how our physiology, biochemistry and anatomy – right down to the subcellular domain – have been shaped and sustained by natural interactions over thousands of millennia. But the destruction of natural habitats, the urbanisation of society and the digitalisation of recreation, all in the relentless pursuit of economic growth, have disconnected us from our roots in the natural world. And this is subjecting us to states of overstimulation and hyperarousal that stress our nervous systems beyond our natural capacity. The solution, he argues, is not to place undue blame or expectation on individual lifestyle choices, but rather to embrace ‘small resets’ which, taken together, can start to turn the tide. Offering practical advice on how to renaturalise our senses and rewild our creativity, this book fosters an unwavering optimism in the value of Nature for the conservation of human health – if we can only reconnect.