To explain this phenomenon, a “back to nature” theory was advocated. A claim that human physiological functions are best adapted to a natural environment because over 99.99% of the course of human evolution, since our ancestors started evolving from a subset of primates into our current form around 6–7 million years ago, has been spent in a natural environment. Thus, in modern environments, stress rates in people have been found to be highly elevated which also points to the fact that human beings function much better in a natural environment.
Conversely, we have spent less than 0.01% of our species’ history in a modern environment, which only started with the beginning of urbanization in the Industrial Revolution. The highly urbanized and artificial environments that we currently inhabit are the root cause of the “stress state” in modern people. Humans enter a more relaxed state when exposed to natural environments or our original natural state as human beings.
The researchers at Chiba University also concluded that the physiological relaxation that touching wood creates, could also be due to the effects of a familiar and representative natural material for humans. Due to the course of human evolution since our ancestors started evolving from a subset of primates into the current form, spanning over the course of 6- 7 million years. When we spend more time in natural environments, researchers have also found that the ‘comfortable feeling’ provided when people touch wood, brings the back to nature effect into play and proves why woodworking is good for you.
Since then, a new concept of moku-iku have been realised: how the “quality of life is improved by being brought up in the presence of wood” and that “contact with wood is physiologically relaxing and enhances immune function, brain activity and the nervous system.
It’s never too late to start learning Woodworking and gaining something that might last forever.
Why not try and make it financially beneficial at the same time? 🙂