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piqer for: Global finds Health and Sanity Doing Good
Bangalore-based Rashmi Vasudeva's journalism has appeared in many Indian and international publications over the past decade. A features writer with over nine years of experience heading a health and fitness supplement in a mainstream Indian newspaper, her niche areas include health, wellness, fitness, food, nutrition and Indian classical Arts.
Her articles have appeared in various publications including Mint-Wall Street Journal, The Hindu, Deccan Herald (mainstream South Indian newspaper), Smart Life (Health magazine from the Malayala Manorama Group of publications), YourStory (India's media technology platform for entrepreneurs), Avantika (a noir arts and theatre magazine), ZDF (a German public broadcasting company) and others.
In 2006, she was awarded the British Print-Chevening scholarship to pursue a short-term course in new-age journalism at the University of Westminster, U.K. With a double Masters in Globalisation and Media Studies from Aarhus Universitet (Denmark), University of Amsterdam and Swansea University in Wales, U.K., she has also dabbled in academics, travel writing and socio-cultural studies. Mother to a frisky toddler, she hums 'wheels on the bus' while working and keeps a beady eye on the aforementioned toddler's antics.
Podcast: Our Better Nature—How The Great Outdoors Can Improve Your Life
Just the podcast for Monday blues: As much as it sounds like something everyone is aware of, there are gaps in our understanding of the effect nature has on our physical and mental well-being. And as host Vedantam says, at the outset it does appear like one of those 'new-age' mantras of self-proclaimed yoga gurus.
In a conversation with psychologist Ming Kuo who has been studying the effect of nature on us for more than three decades, Vedantam explores what the urban fabric with its extreme proximity and inherent violence and danger (buildings, traffic, crowding, and noise) does to people. Ming Kuo has been examining the similar psychological patterns people who have very little access to nature end up creating. Curiously, she began researching about how bad urban environments have a negative effect on people's psychological make-up. But the data led her to instead examine the effect of nature on people and she now strongly believes that greenery (even the sort found in urban landscapes and parks) is not just something nice to have but is essential for better mental health.
The fact that she started out as a skeptic adds weight to her research. Essentially, her argument is humans with less access to nature exhibit the same patterns that are noticed in animals housed in zoos. Zoo animals have shelter, water, food and safety, so all should be well – but the reality is quite different. The animals undergo a significant amount of psychological and physical breakdown, sometimes gradually, often abruptly. The same goes for humans.
The professor then takes us on a fascinating ride through all the empirical research she has conducted over the years to prove that this is more than just a ‘feel-good’ theory. Not only has her research revealed higher patterns of crime and aggression when people live in urban jungles, but Ming Kuo has also discovered connections between greenery and health markers for lifestyle diseases.
Do give this podcast a listen and maybe try her 'canopy flying' as well!
