BRING A BIT OF NATURE INDOORS

AT THE OFFICE
• Lower employee stress
• Increase worker productivity
• Reduce sick days

HEALTHCARE APPLICATIONS
• Provide a soothing setting for hospital patients and concerned family members
• Give patients a beautiful distraction while they wait
• Reduce patient stress during the medical procedure or examination

AT HOME
• Cover plain painted walls with imagination and life
• Decorate your walls with impressively large and captivating art

NATURE IMAGES ARE SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN TO REDUCE STRESS
One of the most important applications for Mike's nature photography is relaxation and stress reduction. Scientists at Texas A&M University have found that subjects who are shown a film depicting natural landscapes lowered their stress levels. Other studies have proven that images of landscapes combining open spaces, water, and trees are especially appealing to people.

University of Michigan psychologist Stephen Kaplan found that workers whose offices had windows with natural views reported less job stress than workers whose windows overlooked parking lots.

"When we tune in to nature, we're engaging in behavior that makes us feel peaceful, healthy, and safe," states the twice Pulitzer Prize winning Harvard University biologist Edward O. Wilson. Wilson's research in biophilia (literally, "love of living things") shows that humans have a deep, inborn need to connect with nature. "Attraction to natural environments is not simply a cultural phenomenon. There is evidence of a deeper, biological urge."

These results shouldn't come as a surprise. When asked to imagine a soothing place, nobody visualizes a freeway or shopping mall? Instead, most people conjure up images of wilderness and natural landscapes of prairies, forests, mountains, rivers, and wetlands.