But it turns out that she was right all along.” I thought it was just my granny being whimsical. “All the things she would say – ‘Go for a walk and take a few deep breaths and then you’ll feel calmer’ – that sort of thing. “While I was writing the book, I found myself thinking of my granny quite often,” she says. She’s the ideal companion for an afternoon’s urban ramble. She has just published a book, 52 Ways to Walk, which is full of clearly presented science, nuggets of history and infectious enthusiasm for being out in the world and simply walking as a way of tackling so many of our ills. This is just the start of our walk and only the first of Streets’s remarkable facts. There are studies showing that the blood pressure of people walking under evergreens was significantly lower than that of the people walking in a control group.” “Terpenes are the trees’ own immune system,” says Streets, “and when you walk underneath them you breathe that self-protection mechanism. Studies on the citrus compound D-limonene suggest it is an effective mood-booster and antidepressant. Laboratory research has shown that the terpene a-pinene, found in conifers such as our yew tree, could have properties that prevent cancer. The presence of these tiny molecules has an anti-inflammatory effect on the body. They are also one of the reasons humans are drawn to trees. They are the reason pine trees smell piney and citrus trees smell citrussy. Terpenes are a type of organic compound produced by plants, part of a protection system against insects, disease and rot. “Every day I stand under an evergreen tree now,” she says. We stand looking up at the clusters of leathery, spiked leaves and breathe deeply. She spots what she is looking for: a large spreading yew tree.
It is a bright, early March day and we are looping around the gardens of Fulham Palace in southwest London.
Photograph: Kate Peters/The ObserverĪnnabel Streets is searching for a conifer. ‘Terpenes are the trees’ own immune system and when you walk underneath them you breathe that self-protection mechanism’: Annabel Street.
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