No Wonder Your Boulevardier is So Forgetful

Your Boulevardier was very excited when he read the first sentence of a recent neuroscience story out of the University of Michigan; could it be that his everyday activity was actually mental, as well as physical, exercise? The article began:

"Go outside: It helps improve your focus -- even when it's cold out."

But the excitement was short-lived. It turns out one must walk in nature in order to bolster brainpower. Walking on city streets was specifically tested:

Berman [the scientist who conducted the research] decided to test that theory by sending study participants on walking routes around Ann Arbor. Participants walked on an urban route down main streets and also on a route in U-M's Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum, taking in nature. When participants walked in the Arboretum, they improved their short-term memory by 20 percent, but showed no improvements after walking down city streets.

Indeed, simply admiring pictures of nature proved beneficial.

The researchers also tested the same theory by having subjects sit inside and look at pictures of either downtown scenes or nature scenes and again the results were the same: when looking at photos of nature, memory and attention scores improved by about 20 percent, but not when viewing the urban pictures.

One can only sigh. The walks will continue in spite of this scientific rebuke.