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Page 6 Health & Wellness • Thursday, March 20, 2025
How it pays to spend time in nature
Few things can be as distracting as a beautiful day. When the weather outside is welcoming, it can be hard to focus on indoor activities, including work and tasks around the house. Though it’ s not advisable to ignore responsibilities at work and at home when the weather outside beckons, it can be beneficial to spend ample time in nature when circumstances allow.
People tend to flock to the great outdoors in spring, summer and fall, and some are even so devoted that they bundle up and head outside throughout winter. Whether they know it or not, people who love to spend time in nature are doing their mental and physical health a lot of good by embracing the great outdoors.
Mental health benefits The National Alliance of Mental
Illness notes that a growing body of research supports the idea that time in nature is good for mental health.
A 2015 study from researchers at Stanford University found that people who walked in a natural area for 90 minutes exhibited decreased activity in a region of the brain associated with depression compared to those who walked in high-traffic urban settings.
The United Kingdom-based Mental Health Foundation also touts the mental health benefits of the great outdoors. According to the MHF, research shows that people who are connected with nature are more likely to report their lives are worthwhile than those with no such connectedness.
In addition, the MHF notes time in nature has been shown to generate positive emotions, including calmness and joy, and promote
greater creativity.
When seeking to capitalize on the mental health benefits of time in nature, people should know that where they spend time outdoors matters. As the Stanford study indicated, time outside in high-traffic urban settings may not produce as profound an effect as time spent in natural settings, like forests, that tend to be more serene. People who live in cities or other densely populated areas can still benefit from time outdoors, but they might experience even greater health gains if they make consistent efforts to spend time in more natural settings.
Physical health benefits
The physical health benefits of time in nature are equally notable. Perhaps the most obvious physical
See Nature, Page 7
StemWave
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