Enhancing human health through exposure to microbes in nature

The article below is based on a podcast interview with Dr. Jake Robinson. This post contains affiliate links — see my disclosure policy.

The human body is a complex ecosystem, and microbes are crucial in maintaining its health. The human microbiome, which comprises the collection of microbes that inhabit the human body, has evolved over time to help shape our immune systems to protect against disease. However, modern lifestyles have caused humans to remove themselves from their natural microbial environments, which has led to an increase in immune diseases.

This article explores the importance of exposure to microbes for a strong immune system and how enhancing human health through exposure to microbes in nature can improve our well-being. It will also discuss the concept of microbiome-inspired green infrastructure, which promotes the idea of adding green features to cities to help us encounter more potentially beneficial microbes.

The importance of exposure to microbes for a strong immune system

Microbes play a large role in our health. This role goes way back. In my interview with Dr. Jake Robinson on the Joyful Microbe podcast, he explains that mammals, including humans, co-evolved with microbes and developed symbiotic relationships where they depended on each other to survive. “They lived on the ground, so they were really in close contact with the soil. They were coated — they literally bathed and breathed in soil microbes. And because of this, they also formed this really close-knit relation with the microbes,” says Jake. These symbiotic relationships led to the human microbiome, the collection of microbes that inhabit the human body and help shape our immune systems to protect against disease.

However, humans have recently removed themselves from their natural microbial environments by living in cities. It’s thought that this has led to increased immune diseases. This idea is called the “old friends hypothesis,” which suggests that lack of exposure to microbes and nature from an early age leads to immune disorders.

Jake spoke with Professor Graham Rook, an immune immunologist at University College London, who described the immune system at birth as a computer with hardware and software but lacking data, which comes from exposure to microbes. Exposure to a diversity of microbes early in life trains the innate and adaptive immune systems. Lack of exposure, on the other hand, leads to diseases of the immune system. So, studying how to restore exposure to health-promoting microbes and improve immune health is an important area of research.

However, it’s important to note that targeted hygiene, like hand washing and food safety, is still very important for health. The issue is overly sterilized environments and lack of exposure to biodiversity, not hygiene itself. So then, how should we go about improving our health through exposure to microbes in a safe way?

Enhancing human health through exposure to microbes in nature

One way to improve human health is through exposure to microbes in natural environments. In a paper on a concept called “Microbiome-Inspired Green Infrastructure,” Jake and his co-authors discuss how adding more green features to our surroundings could help us encounter more of these microbes.

This microbiome-inspired approach emphasizes the importance of microbes from diverse plant communities in maintaining ecosystems and human health and providing other services to humans. Green infrastructure refers to networks of natural environments in urban areas that provide benefits like cooling, flood reduction, and improved immune health. Examples include green roofs, urban trees, parks, and more complex designs incorporating microbes.

A real-life example of this was demonstrated in a study in Finland where researchers introduced more plant diversity into schoolyards. They compared schoolyards with little nature to schoolyards supplemented with forest materials like soil and plants. After 27 days, the children in the more diverse schoolyards had different microbes on their skin and in their guts compared to the other children. These interventions lead to increased diversity of microbes in children and improved immune function. So, bringing in more plant species and, consequently, more microbial diversity into the environment is one way to enhance human health.

But how can we apply this to our own lives? Individuals can benefit from exposure to nature and diverse plant life in their daily lives. Jake recommends bringing houseplants indoors, spending time outside in natural environments with many plant and animal species, and developing an emotional connection to nature. These practices can improve well-being by exposing people to beneficial microbes, reducing stress, and providing psychological benefits. A diverse diet also promotes a healthy microbiome. Overall, increasing exposure to nature in various ways significantly impacts human health and well-being.

Summary

• Microbes have symbiotic relationships with humans, namely through the human microbiome, which helps shape our immune systems to protect against disease.
• Lack of exposure to microbes early in life is thought to lead to diseases of the immune system.
• Enhancing human health through exposure to microbes in nature is an important area of research.
• Microbiome-inspired green infrastructure emphasizes the importance of microbes in maintaining ecosystems and human health, and adding more green features, such as urban trees, parks, and diverse plant communities, to our surroundings can help us encounter more microbes and improve immune function.
• A real-life example showed that introducing more plant diversity into schoolyards led to increased diversity of microbes in children and improved immune function.
• Individuals can benefit from exposure to nature and diverse plant life in their daily lives, such as bringing houseplants indoors, spending time outside in natural environments, developing an emotional connection to nature, and having a diverse diet.

Learn more in Dr. Jake Robinson’s book Invisible Friends…