Will two hours in the park become the next 10,000 steps?
As people spend more time indoors, a mountain of scientific research says spending time in nature is critical to health and extends lifespan. That means you regularly need to be in the fresh air, under trees, and away from cars and concrete. And no, the peloton doesn’t count.
“There is an urgent need in science and at gut level to increase the experience of nature. This field is just exploding, ”said Gretchen Daily, an environmental science professor at Stanford University.
The benefits have been apparent to scientists for some time, but the pandemic has made matters more urgent. The physical and emotional toll the virus has taken, especially in urban areas with little green space, has prompted doctors, researchers and others to take advantage of nature’s therapeutic effects.
Spending time in the forest – a practice the Japanese call ‘forest bathing’ – is strongly associated with lower blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormones and reduced anxiety, depression and fatigue.