Getting my Dose . . . of M. Vaccae and Vitamin G(grandson)
Posted on August 8, 2009 by Other in Personal Experiences.
In 2008 I blogged about an article I’d read in Discover Magazine. It completely explained why most gardeners are such laid-back people. It turns out that according to a new study a harmless soil bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae (M. vaccae), causes serotonin to be released in the brain. The study (“Identification of an Immune-Responsive Mesolimbocortical Serotonergic System: Potential Role in Regulation of Emotional Behavior,” by Christopher Lowry et al, originally published in Neuroscience.) indicates that inhaling M. vaccae while working in the garden, or walking, can create a better mood and lighten depression much the way Prozac does.
And I know it must be so! For in truth, I am much more relaxed when I am in the garden feeling my bare feet sink down into the cool soil. But this week, I also discovered other ways to get my dose of M. vaccae.
We have our twelve-year-old grandson staying with us for a week. Yesterday we went to one of the nearby water parks. It hosts a wave pool, a current-driven “river,” etc. I brought the latest teen novel I am reading and spread my blanket in the sun to keep an eye on said grandson, and to read. On my stomach with my head just inches from the grassy hillside overlooking the water features I inhaled that good hot-dirt summer smell. Hmm . . . What a way to relax, catch up on my reading, and get my dose of M. vaccae at the same time.
However, my favorite method I discovered today. My grandson is in training for his middle-school track team and after a sweaty run he sat down in the dirt of a local park to catch his breath. Later, he helped in the garden, beat his grandfather at a game of ladder ball, and generally messed around outside. Just before I ordered him into the bathroom for a shower, we stood for a few minutes in the hallway. I hugged him and kissed the top of his head. Hmm . . .
He’d collected a lot of that good M. vaccae on his skin. I breathed it in and felt that surge of happy serotonin in my brain. And I inhaled another essential vitamin—Vitamin G(grandchild).
Ahh . . . summer. Books. Grandchildren. Could it ever get any better?
Ciao!
Shutta
