Go Touch Grass

“Go touch grass,” is a popular way to insult someone for spending too much time online. The implication being that they have become disconnected to the real world. I admit, it’s an excellent burn, but I wanted to find out if there is any truth to it. Can the physical act of touching grass actually help your mental health?

I recently learned about the Japanese concept of shinrin-yoku or ‘forest bathing,’ It means taking time out from city life to visit the forest and take in the sights and sounds of the natural environment. The practice has both physical and mental health benefits like reducing stress, and recalibrating circadian rhythms. It stands to reason that touching grass might have similar effects.

Studies suggest that it does, but as with most health claims, scammers like to exaggerate their scope and effectiveness in order to sell products. A whole industry has cropped up around the notion of making physical contact with the ground a.k.a. ‘Grounding’ or ‘Earthing.’ to absorb the earth’s energy (electrons). They claim everything from reducing inflammation to curing disease.

Let’s be real. Walking around outside with bare feet is not going to cure cancer, but it will probably put you in a noticeably better mood and perhaps help give you better quality sleep. This exercise is also useful for clearing one’s head and sharpening concentration. Best selling author and literary icon, Stephen King takes long walks as part of his creative process. Besides, it’s free and poses no danger unless you step in doggie doo.

According to a statistic from the National Recreation and Park Association website, only fifty eight percent of US adults spend at least thirty minutes a day outside. How did we stray so far from mother earth? It seems that we may have paved ourselves into a corner like in Joni Mitchell’s song, “Big Yellow Taxi,” which contains the evocative lyric, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”

The song was written in 1970, well before people began spending time online. Mitchell’s lyrics lament the destruction of the natural world in favor of capitalistic progress. The same issue affects us in the twenty-first century, but with the added threat of the time we spend online taking over our mental real estate. I don’t know about you, but I find myself increasingly unable to unplug because of the addictive nature of social media.

To illustrate my point, I’ll tell you about an embarrassing and painful incident I had recently. One day I was feeling cooped up and decided to go for a walk. I brought my phone, of course, and proceeded to check a few things online while I wandered around the neighborhood. I suddenly felt a tremendous excruciating thwack on the forehead as if I’d been struck by a blunt instrument.

No, it was not an assailant with a crowbar. I had inadvertently walked straight into some metal pipes that were sticking out of a flat bed truck. Of course, at that moment there was someone who witnessed my act of stupidity. He didn’t laugh, he actually seemed concerned. I held back tears to save face, laughed it off, and told him I was fine.

I know we all have the same struggle, maybe not as extreme as the example above, but many of us spend long stretches of time indoors looking at screens. This is not the way humans were meant to live. It seems ridiculous that we should need scheduled outdoor time like prison inmates, but maybe it’s necessary. Plus, if we all spend more time outdoors, maybe we’ll fight harder to preserve the environment that desperately needs our help.