Touch some grass. Sure, will do.

Have you touched some grass today, my friend? 🌱

Photo by kiran awale on Unsplash

“Go outside and look for greenery, your eyes will get better” is a myth founded by my mother since I was in Junior High School, the year I started wearing eyeglasses. I know she worries that my nearsightedness has gotten worse year by year. So, she asked me to go outside and connect with nature because someone told her it works. Or maybe it’s just a conspiracy for me to help her water the plants in the garden. Well, I don’t know the truth. Been doing that for years, and not gonna complain because I love it.

“Touch some grass” has become a popular idiom nowadays. It can mean that someone should go outside and connect with nature, and also a suggestion to look around, check reality, and be more empathic with their surroundings, especially for those who live in a bubble.

In my experience, both of them are really beneficial for my health and social life.

Connecting with nature, as many research says, helps in reducing anxiety and blood pressure. When we connect with nature, it lowers our nervous system to the parasympathetic state, which relaxes the body and lowers blood pressure. Also, it increases alpha brainwaves, which are associated with calmness, mental clarity, and relaxed alertness.

For me, connecting with nature helps me live in the present, pay attention to small things I didn’t notice before, and yeah, the sound of leaves touching the air is so relaxing. Don’t believe it? Give it a try!

Moreover, when we talk about the other meaning of “touch some grass”, socially speaking, it can be translated as reality testing and empathy. This is the version where grass saves you from unnecessary overthinking and online arguments.

Reality testing measures how good we are at understanding our own and others’ emotional feelings — basically checking whether the drama in our head actually exists in real life. Empathy, on the other hand, is the ability to understand other people’s point of view before reacting like we’re the main character in the universe. It’s not just challenging our belief that we are always right, but also learning to pause, consider others, and then decide how to respond like a decent human being.

Empathy leads to compassion, which research links to better well-being and health. Basically, being kind is good for your body too. Some studies even say empathetic people are more likely to volunteer — and volunteering improves mental health. So yes, touching grass might accidentally turn you into a nicer, calmer human. Side effects may include caring about others and feeling oddly good about it

So, from both literal and metaphorical sides, touching grass turns out to be surprisingly useful for humans. It calms your nervous system, softens your thoughts, and maybe makes you less annoying online. So, when was the last time you touched some grass?