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We all know that being in nature is good for our health and mental well-being. But how does it work its magic? For example, what explains the finding that, following gall bladder surgery, people who could see a verdant scene from their hospital window ?

It is this puzzle that led botanist Kathy Willis on a recent mission. The former director of science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London and current professor of biodiversity at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, says that what she discovered has changed her life. In her new book, Good Nature, she explores the growing body of research revealing what happens in our brains and bodies when we interact with nature. We tend to see ourselves as a visual species, but it turns out that the benefits we get via other senses 鈥� smell, sound, touch and a mysterious 鈥渉idden sense鈥� 鈥� are just as impressive, sometimes more so. There is still lots more to discover, but, as she tells New Scientist, we have already learned plenty that can improve our lives.

Kate Douglas: What happens when we look at nature?

: It induces different pathways in our bodies. Our , and our is heightened in areas showing we are calmer and more clear-minded.

Are there certain 鈥渘atural鈥� colours we should seek out?

When you look at these physiological markers of calmness, it鈥檚 , and that have the most pronounced effect. But people found that they preferred to look at radially symmetrical flowers and flowers that were blue. We don鈥檛 know what effect their shape has on our physiology, but that study shows that our preferences don鈥檛 always tell us what鈥檚 best for us in terms of physical or mental well-being.

What is the best kind of landscape to view?

It is an open one with a few scattered trees. This makes us physiologically and psychologically calmer and there are two reasons for this. First, it detracts from your focused attention: it鈥檚 more of a general background attention, so it .

Second, when we look at something, our eyes pick up the complexity of the scene. We call this its fractal dimension, which is a measure of complexity that indicates the degree to which objects fill the available space. We prefer landscapes with mid fractal complexity. This is equivalent to a more open kind of landscape with a few trees.

These landscapes result in a 鈥� heightened alpha and beta frequencies and reduced delta frequencies 鈥� which studies have shown are associated with increased focus and a feeling of calm.

You argue that smelling nature is even more beneficial than seeing it. Why?

Smell was a completely unknown sense to me. I mean, flowers smell nice, but I didn鈥檛 think about it. I didn鈥檛 realise that when you breathe in a plant scent, it passes across your lung membrane and some of those . Many scents are now being shown to in the same way as a prescription drug. And they can have long-lasting effects.

Which smells have known health benefits?

Lavender calms you down: it contains a , which has anti-anxiety effects. Then there鈥檚 pinene, the you get in a pine forest, which also reduces stress.

Another interesting one is plants in the cypress family, like cedar and juniper, which contain compounds called sesquiterpenoids. People who breathe those in have , indicating relaxation, but also 鈥� the immune cells that attack cancers and viruses. Limonene is another example: it鈥檚 found in lots of citrus fruits and .

What about natural sounds? Are they good for us too?

Sounds have been shown to calm us. And there鈥檚 a big which found that particular sounds are good for certain things. Birdsong, for example, is best at reducing physiological symptoms of stress, whereas water sounds improve mood and cognitive performance. But there are bad sounds, too: , that does not relax us.

The other really nice work on sound is in pain relief. Scientists in Japan, for example, have shown that people who heard nature sounds while having an operation with epidural anaesthesia indicative of pain than others who listened to no sound.

Would you recommend tree hugging?

Unfortunately, nobody has studied tree hugging, but there is research showing that when you touch wood it lowers your blood pressure compared to stroking other materials. And different types of wood , which is possibly to do with their structure. But it鈥檚 not just your hands: if your feet touch wood, it can make you calmer. There are also , comparing playing a game of planting plants on a smartphone and actually planting plants in the classroom. The children performed better academically after touching the real plants and they also said that they felt calmer and happier.

In your book, you talk about a hidden sense. What is that?

It鈥檚 something you can鈥檛 see, smell, hear or touch. It鈥檚 all the bacteria and viruses and living things in the atmosphere around us 鈥� the environmental microbiome. The more biodiverse an area, the higher the level of diversity of the environmental microbiome. It鈥檚 significant because, as we have lost diversity in our own microbiome, we have seen a large increase in many non-communicable diseases like asthma and also allergies, and the so-called says that we can increase it by spending time in and around naturally biodiverse environments.

Sure enough, research shows that after 14 days of playing in a playground of soil from a boreal forest, preschool children had effectively on their skin and in their gut. And they had fewer inflammatory markers in their blood, indicating an enhanced immune system. The same thing . For example, people who had a green wall in their office for 28 days had more good bacteria on their skin and in their gut, and greatly reduced inflammatory markers in their blood.

When it comes to spending time in nature, what鈥檚 the best medicine 鈥� and what dose should we aim for?

To maximise the benefits, you need to spend at least , and at least 120 minutes each week. If you鈥檙e going out walking, walk in the park rather than on the streets. There鈥檚 a huge difference to what it does for you. The second thing is to seek out areas that will stack the benefits of nature. Go to a copse where you can hear the birds 鈥� one that is as far away as possible from the road and its unhealthy sounds. Go where you can smell the air, where there are scented plants like lavender and rosemary. Now, I always choose if I can because pine smells are so good for you 鈥� but I avoid dense tree cover because there is .

What about gardening?

Gardening has huge benefits because you鈥檙e combining so many of your senses: sight, sound, smell and, by touching the soil, you鈥檙e getting that environmental microbiome into your body. But there are some surprising studies. First, you get greater benefits from putting in pots in your front garden than in the back. I think that鈥檚 because you鈥檙e walking through it all the time. So, concreting over your front garden is probably the worst thing you can do. Also, research has shown that people report greater calming and other in an allotment than in their private garden. It might have something to do with community cohesion, but also, with an allotment, you鈥檙e planting a whole variety of shapes, sizes and colours and it goes on all year round.

How should we change our homes and offices to make the most of these findings?

In my home office, I鈥檝e got a bottle of hinoki oil [from a species of cypress tree] that I diffuse every couple of days because it increases natural killer cells. I have a green-and-white spider plant. In fact, I have plants all around me now. That鈥檚 sight and smell. We can do sound too, with recordings of nature, and touch by increasing the amount of natural, untreated wood around us. We can also take mental mini-breaks: look out of the window onto greenery.

And how can we improve public buildings like schools and hospitals?

Schools are most important to me because it鈥檚 not just about physical and mental well-being, but also cognitive performance. Children do better academically when they have green walls to look out onto or in the classroom. Many schools are looking to put more shade structures in their playgrounds 鈥� often big canvas things with metal poles. Well, of course, the alternative is to plant some trees or even some ivy up a wall. And you鈥檒l stack the benefits you get from nature by doing that as well as providing the shade you need.

As for hospitals, work really needs to be done to demonstrate that prescribing nature is as cost-effective and effective in terms of treatment as prescription drugs. There is evidence coming through to support this. We鈥檙e not at the point where we can argue the economic case, but that鈥檚 where we need to be if we really want the National 午夜福利1000集合 Service within the UK to adopt this. It is already happening in some places, though. I went to Singapore recently, and they now have a centre for biodiversity medicine in their hospital.

Do we need to rethink urban green spaces?

Absolutely! The implications are huge. We need to build more houses and that is putting big pressure on urban green spaces. People often think that it鈥檚 OK for a developer who destroys biodiversity to create it elsewhere. But we absolutely need to have biodiversity around us in cities. You can鈥檛 move it somewhere else and hope it鈥檚 going to give the same benefits. More biodiversity in cities is good for nature 鈥� but it鈥檚 critical for our well-being.

Kate Douglas is a features editor at聽New聽Scientist