What Are the Mental Health Benefits of Spending Time in Nature?

A walk among trees can change more than your view. In one experiment, a 90-minute walk through a natural setting reduced repetitive negative thinking, known as rumination, and reduced activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex, a brain region associated with this pattern of thought. (R)

That is one clue as to why spending time in nature may feel mentally restorative, whether you are walking through bushland, sitting in a local park or simply finding a quiet green space.

How can spending time in nature influence your mood?

The effects of nature can be both psychological and physiological. Research has found changes in subjective mood alongside measurable changes in the body’s stress-response systems after exposure to natural environments. (R)

In an eight-week field study, 36 adults living in urban environments were asked to spend at least 10 minutes in an outdoor place where they felt contact with nature. Researchers found that these nature experiences were associated with a decline in salivary cortisol beyond the hormone’s normal time-of-day decrease. The most efficient reduction in cortisol occurred with nature experiences lasting around 20 to 30 minutes, although benefits continued to accumulate at a slower rate beyond this point. (R)

Your brain may respond too. In the 90-minute walking experiment mentioned earlier, participants who walked in nature reported less rumination afterwards, while those who walked beside a busy road did not show the same change. Brain imaging also showed reduced activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex following the nature walk. (R)

How much time in nature may support wellbeing?

You do not necessarily need an entire day in the wilderness. Research has observed benefits across nature experiences of different lengths, although scientists have not established one ideal amount that applies to everyone. (R)

One of the largest studies examining this question analysed data from 19,806 adults. People who reported spending at least 120 minutes in nature during the previous week were more likely to report high wellbeing and good health than people reporting no nature contact. The pattern was also seen among older adults. (R)

Experimental research suggests shorter encounters can also produce measurable responses. In one study of 74 participants, just 15 minutes of walking in a forest was associated with a greater reduction in salivary cortisol than walking for the same duration in an urban environment. (R)

So rather than treating 120 minutes as a target you must hit, you can think of regular nature time as a flexible healthy-ageing habit that can fit naturally around your life.

Does walking outdoors offer benefits beyond simply being outside?

Walking gives you an interesting combination: you receive the established stimulus of physical movement while also interacting with the sights, sounds and sensory qualities of your surroundings.

Another randomised study involving adults with major depressive disorder compared a 50-minute nature walk with a 50-minute urban walk. Participants showed improvements in mood following the nature walk and performed better on a measure of working memory compared with the urban condition. (R)

More recently, a randomised controlled study of a single 60-minute walk found that participants walking in nature experienced lower overall negative affect, meaning unpleasant emotional states, than participants assigned to an urban walk. The researchers did not find a difference between groups in positive affect, highlighting an important point: nature does not necessarily influence every aspect of mood in the same way. (R)

This makes outdoor walking an appealing way to combine movement with green-space exposure, particularly because it can be adapted to your fitness, mobility and surroundings.

How can you bring more nature into your everyday routine?

Nature time does not need to involve hiking through remote bushland. In research, a “nature experience” has included simply spending time in an outdoor place that gives you a sense of contact with nature, while larger population studies have included recreational visits to parks, woodlands and beaches. (R) (R)

• You could take your morning walk through a leafy park,
• drink your coffee in the garden,
• sit beneath a tree while reading,
• choose a greener route to the shops or spend time near the coast.
• If longer outings suit you, a weekend bushwalk or garden visit can add to your nature time too.

You can also pair nature with activities you already enjoy. Walking with a friend, gardening, birdwatching or taking your usual exercise outdoors can make green space part of your routine rather than another task on your list.

Why might green spaces feel mentally restorative?

Scientists are still working out exactly why natural environments affect mental wellbeing, and there is unlikely to be one single mechanism. Current research points towards several interacting pathways involving stress physiology, attention and patterns of thought. (R)

For example, studies have measured changes in cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase, a marker linked with sympathetic nervous system activity, after exposure to natural settings. (R) Other experimental work suggests nature exposure can influence brain activity associated with rumination. (R)

Importantly, individual responses vary. A peaceful beach, neighbourhood garden, shady park or forest path may offer different experiences for different people, so the most useful natural environment is often one you enjoy and can visit regularly.

One Last Thing

Supporting your mental wellbeing does not always require complicated routines. Nature offers something refreshingly simple: an opportunity to move, notice your surroundings and give your mind a different environment in which to operate.

The research does not give you a magic number of trees, steps or minutes. What it does suggest is that regular contact with natural environments can sit comfortably alongside other positive habits that support wellbeing and healthy ageing. Whether you have 15 minutes for a leafy walk or an afternoon to spend by the water, nature time can be a flexible part of looking after yourself for the long term.