I enjoyed Kymberlee O’Brien’s explanation (“There’s a scientific reason leaf peeping feels so good,” Opinion, Oct. 20) of why looking at fall foliage can feel restorative. I would add that autumn engages more than just our eyes.
As I walked thought Mt. Auburn Cemetery last weekend, leaves were crunching underfoot. I could smell their earthy, damp scent as fungi decomposed them. Along with the vivid colors, these sounds, textures, and smells are autumn in New England.
A 2024 Science Advances article identified smell as an important, yet understudied way we experience nature. As O’Brien rightly notes, researchers have not tested every link between nature and well-being. There is also something about autumn’s brisk temperatures and falling leaves that evokes a sense of renewal, as though the changing season offers an opportunity for fresh beginnings. Still, her article reminds us to appreciate not just the colors, but the sounds, textures, and smells of the season.
Jack Spengler
Watertown
The writer is research faculty and former Akira Yamaguchi professor of environmental health and human habitation at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Even as a longstanding Greater Boston city dweller I have always enjoyed the pleasures and wonders of leaf peeping, albeit in my far-from-rustic neighborhood. There is something about the refreshing fall season, before the stark bleakness of winter kicks in — combined with the splendid visual array of colors of autumnal leaves majestically gracing deciduous trees before they are ultimately shed until their spring renewal — that always affords an anodyne feeling of tranquility and well-being. I spent one fall season living in Louisiana a few years ago, and I can still recall the drabness inherent in that region’s palpable lack of colorful fall leaf-peeping opportunities, which had a decidedly negative impact on my mood. Science-based or not, nature’s bounty manifested in leaf peeping indeed makes one feel good, and is only truly appreciated in its absence.
Mark Godes
Chelsea