Author, Becca Warner
Designation, BBC Future
Published 1 minute ago
Reading Time: 7 minutes
If you have soil on your hands or have touched grass or moss, what will be the first thing that comes to your mind? Dirty hands should be washed. But wait, these 'dirty hands are good'.
A research conducted in Finland shows that touching the trees, plants and soil that we pass by every day can also be beneficial for us.
Mira Grönroos, a scientist doing research on nature and health at the Environmental Institute of Finland, conducted an experiment.
He asked people to rub soil, peat moss or marsh moss on their hands for 20 seconds. After this, people's hands were washed with tap water.
Even after washing hands, the number of bacteria on his skin was high. Meera says, "His hands looked completely clean, but when it came to his skin, the change was huge."
Why are bacteria beneficial on skin?
Although having excess bacteria on the skin may not sound good. But, many types of bacteria live on our skin.
Many of these are beneficial for us.
Good bacteria prevent the growth of bad and disease causing bacteria. This not only benefits the skin, but also increases the strength of the body to fight other diseases.
Meera, who is doing research on this topic, says that doing this for just 20 seconds is not enough. The effect of 20 seconds ends after some time and the skin becomes the same again.
Therefore, if we touch soil, grass and trees daily or repeatedly, its effect can last for a long time. Our skin and entire body can benefit from this.
mud play experiments
It is common for children to have dirty hands in the Aurinkolinna Day-Care Center in Finland. Children play outside for at least two hours every day in a field surrounded by trees and plants.
Children run among bushes and trees, climb ropes, build sand houses, jump into water holes, play with mud and small pieces of wood.
By the end of the day, the children are covered in mud and mud from head to toe.
Now scientists are trying to find out what benefits can be given to children's health by playing in mud like this?
For this, the bacteria present in the skin, spit and stool of children are being examined. His blood and hair samples are also being taken.
In this research which will last for three years, it is being seen what changes occur in the strength of children's body to fight diseases by playing among trees, plants and soil every day.
Aurinkolinna is one of 43 day-care centers in Finland taking part in the Vaahitstu research project. The project is based on a recent two-year study led by environmental scientist Marya Roslund.
In 2016-17, Marya transformed the paved grounds of a day-care center into a forest-like land. Soil was poured there and small boxes were made to plant saplings.
After this the children were allowed to play there every day for 28 days.
Then the bacteria present in his skin, spit and stomach were examined. After a year had passed, the same tests were conducted again.
The results showed that even after a year, more types of bacteria were present on the skin of children playing among soil and plants than children playing on paved grounds.
Having different types of bacteria on the skin is important for the health of children. When good and normal bacteria are in abundance, they do not allow disease-causing bacteria to dominate.
Marya explained it with a very simple example.
She says, "Disease is like a dictator, while healthy skin is like a democracy."
He says that instead of the skin being occupied by only one type of bad bacteria, there should be presence of many types of bacteria.
Roslund's research found that children who played in forest-like soil had less disease-causing bacteria on their skin.
One reason for this could be that other bacteria were present in large numbers on his skin.
"When there are already many types of bacteria present on the skin, there is not much room left for the bad bacteria to grow and spread," she says.
If skin is healthy then body is also healthy
The benefits of taking care of the skin are not limited to the skin alone. Skin health can affect the way hormones work in our body, heart health and even our ability to think.
To understand this, Marya Roslund formed two groups of small children. One group was allowed to play in a sand field in which soil containing different types of bacteria was mixed.
The second group played on a field that looked exactly the same, but had less bacteria in its soil.
As expected, the good bacteria on the skin of children playing in soil with more types of bacteria also increased.
But the change did not happen only on the skin. Some changes were also seen in his blood test.
These special signals present in the blood are called 'cytokines'. These help in using the body's power to fight diseases properly.
This means that the body can fight any virus or disease and not be overly reactive.
What is 'Vahitstu Project', how did it start?
The idea of starting 'Vahitstu Project' came from the results of various research done on skin.
The Aurinkolinna Day-Care Center received government support and several changes were made to the playground there.
Instead of gravel, small pieces of wood were laid, the playing area in the sand was increased and wooden paths were made. Many types of trees were already present there.
The thinking behind this project is called 'Biodiversity Hypothesis'.
In simple language, this means that different types of bacteria present in air, soil and trees and plants affect the bacteria living in our body. This may also be directly related to our health.
Scientists have been believing for a long time that due to the reduction in plants, animals and different types of bacteria around us, problems related to allergies and the body's ability to fight diseases are increasing.
Roslund's research can help understand why and how this is happening?
In her research, Roslund discovered a special type of bacteria, which is called 'Gammaproteobacteria'.
After playing in a field with forest-like soil, different varieties of this bacteria increase on the skin of children. Along with this, more 'regulatory T-cells' were also found in the blood of children.
These are a kind of white blood cells, which control the body's ability to fight diseases. These keep the body from overreacting and accidentally attacking its own healthy cells.
However, it is not yet clear how much contact with soil and plants affects diseases like eczema, asthma or allergies.
Grönroos says, "We cannot yet say that being in contact with nature will prevent a person from developing asthma. But it seems that it may reduce the risk of such problems related to the body's ability to fight diseases."
This research is very beneficial for adults also
These benefits have not been seen only in children. In a research, some elderly people were asked to grow vegetables indoors during winter.
Cytokines, which help prevent excessive inflammation in the body, also increased in their blood. But such changes were not seen in people using other soils.
Mira Grönroos says, 'When I go out with my children and they pick pine fruits or tree branches, I do not stop them. I even let them bring these things home and play with them.
