It’s no secret that spending time in nature is good for your mind and body. Humans are designed to be connected to the natural environment, and when this connection is severed, as is often the case in the modern world, physical, emotional and mental health can be affected.
I have long recommended spending time outdoors every day to reap the benefits of reasonable sun exposure. But even outside of the sun, the natural world provides humans with a place to decompress and connect in ways that just don’t happen within four walls.
Michael Easter, professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and author of “Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort and Rediscover Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self,” describes his time in the Alaskan wilderness It is “otherworldly”.1 However, Americans may spend up to 92% of their time indoors,2 Key benefits are missed.
Still, recommendations to “spend time outdoors” remain vague, leaving many people wondering how much time in nature is needed for optimal health and well-being. 20-5-3 The natural pyramids may provide some clarity.
3 times a week, spend 20 minutes in nature
Dr. Rachel Hopman, a neuroscientist at Northeastern University, tells Easter about the Nature Pyramid—a simple guide to how much time you should be spending in nature. The bottom of the pyramid is 20 minutes. This is the amount of time you should get outdoors three times a week to enhance memory, cognitive function, and well-being.3 It may also reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
It’s worth noting that using your phone while walking doesn’t have the same beneficial effects. However, simply going for a walk outside may put your brain into “soft obsession” mode, which has meditation-like benefits. Easter wrote:4
“In nature, our brains enter a mode called ‘soft fascination.’ Hopman describes it as a mindfulness-like state that restores and structures the energy needed to think, create, process information, and perform tasks. Resources. This is mindfulness without meditation.
For those who aren’t keen on sitting and focusing on their breathing, taking a short nature walk each day, even along a tree-lined street, is a great option. But turn off your phone—the alerts from your phone might break you out of soft-obsessed mode. “
Other studies by Hopman and colleagues have found that spending time in natural settings like parks or forests can make you feel better and clearer. When you focus on something, your brain drains energy, like a battery running out of juice. But nature is different – it gives your brain a break because you don’t have to bother paying attention to it. Hopman’s study looked at the brain waves of 29 people before, during and after exposure to nature.5
They found that a specific type of brain waves called post-alpha power was lower when people were in nature than when they were not. This suggests that changes in this brain wave may help explain how nature affects our brains.
Five hours per month in a semi-wild natural environment
The next part of the 20-5-3 rule refers to five hours—the amount of time you strive to spend each month in semi-wild nature. It’s not just the time spent that matters, but also the environment. Find a natural area, such as a state park, that allows you to enter a more wild space than your average city park.
Part of the relaxation humans feel when immersed in nature may come from observing fractals. “Fractals are patterns that repeat at increasingly finer dimensions, thus creating shapes with rich visual complexity. According to research published in Urban Science, clouds, trees and mountains are common examples that are ubiquitous in nature, with cauliflower and So are the fern leaves.”6
Fractals are like repeating patterns, but they look a little different each time they repeat. Most studies of how people respond to fractals have used fractals that mimic patterns we see in nature, rather than those that are repeated exactly in different sizes. Researchers wanted to know: Do we feel better because of any kind of fractal, or specifically because of fractals found in nature?
To find out, one study looked at two types of fractals—those that imitate nature and those that are exact repetitions—and gradually transformed one into the other.7 They showed these patterns to 35 people while measuring their brain activity. The results showed that people responded differently to the two types of fractals, with those that looked like natural patterns more likely to help people feel relaxed and focused.
“Cities don’t have fractals,” Hopman told Easter. “Think of a typical building. It’s usually flat, with right angles. It’s painted some dull color.”8
Three days in the wild every year
The last part of the 20-5-3 Nature Prescription describes three days—the amount of time you should spend each year in remote areas of the natural world. Easter explanation:9
“That’s the top of the pyramid. Three is the number of days you should spend each year in nature, camping or renting a cabin (with friends or alone). Think: places characterized by spotty signal and wildlife, away from the hustle and bustle.
This wildest dose of nature is kind of like a long meditation retreat…it causes your brain to ride alpha waves, the same waves that increase during meditation or when you fall into a flow state. They can reset your thinking, boost creativity, relieve burnout, and make you feel better. “
In fact, after a week of rafting, participants in one study reported an average 29% reduction in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and a 21% reduction in general stress, along with improvements in social relationships, life satisfaction, and quality of life. happiness.10,11 Researchers attribute these benefits to the sense of awe felt in the natural world. Easter describes similar emotions after spending time in the wild:12
“I’ve been through severe weather, crossed raging rivers, and faced half-ton grizzly bears. My brain no longer has the typical foxhole hunkering down state—I would compare this state to being on meth. Roadrunner, switching frantically from one thing to the next. The next. After a month on a meditation retreat, my heart felt more like it belonged to a monk. I just felt…better.
Biologist EO Wilson expressed my feelings this way: “Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.”
Not enough time in nature poses health risks
Urban lifestyles are characterized by limited access to nature, excessive screen time, and increased work and academic pressures, leading to an increased nature deficit. This trend has resulted in less time spent outdoors and more time spent indoors.
Journalist Richard Louv coined the term “nature deficit disorder” to describe this phenomenon in his book “Last Child in the Woods.”13 Although not a formal psychological diagnosis, it highlights how natural defects can be associated with adverse mental and physical health outcomes. Loof believes that humans’ disconnection from nature leads to reduced sensory engagement, concentration difficulties, and increased rates of physical and emotional illness.
Outdoor time is so essential to human life that even in America’s maximum security prisons, inmates are guaranteed two hours of outdoor time each day. Yet, according to one survey, 50% of children spend less than an hour outside their homes every day.14 “Proceedings of the Royal Society B” further states:15
“Humans in developed countries spend most of their time indoors and in urban landscapes that bear little resemblance to the environments in which our species evolved. For example, a large survey in the United States showed that 87% of a typical citizen Time is spent indoors and another 6% of time is spent in vehicles.
Living almost completely away from nature can lead to a total disconnection from nature, which has a negative impact on environmental protection and can deprive individuals of the benefits of health and well-being that nature provides. “
Spending time in green and blue spaces is good for you
Varying the time you spend in natural environments, such as green spaces (such as forests and parks) or blue spaces (such as rivers, lakes and coastal areas), can also have significant benefits for overall well-being. There is growing awareness of the importance of green and blue spaces.
While green and blue spaces share some common characteristics, such as cooling effects and exposure to biodiversity, they also offer unique experiences. For example, unlike green spaces, blue spaces provide opportunities for leisure activities such as swimming and provide unique sound scenes (such as water sounds).
A team of researchers analyzed data from 18 countries and found that the greatest mental health benefits may come from exposure to various types of natural environments. Visiting a green space, inland blue space, or coastal blue space within the past four weeks was positively associated with well-being and negatively associated with mental distress.
Feeling psychologically connected to nature, known as nature connection, is also associated with mental health and is associated with a lower likelihood of using depression medications.16 In separate studies, it was found that older adults who frequented parks showed better physical and mental health, while people who frequented blue spaces also reported improved health.number 17
Another variable is exposure to specific places and sounds in the natural world, such as birds and their songs. Research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London suggests these sweet melodies may have lasting benefits for mental health.18
The study, conducted between April 2018 and October 2021, involved 1,292 participants mainly from the UK, EU and US, using a mobile app called Urban Mind to collect real-time reports of participants’ mood and environment.
People with and without depression reported significant improvements in their mental health after seeing or hearing birds compared to not seeing or hearing them.19 Positive mood benefits last until the next app message, or up to eight hours.20
Why I don’t agree with this suggestion
I think the 20-5-3 nature rule is a feeble attempt to determine the minimum requirements for outdoor exposure to sunlight. I realize that even at such a low level many people still fail to implement this advice. It’s a devastatingly sad commentary on how unhealthy our behavior has become.
Getting regular daily exposure to the sun has been a passion of mine for decades. Almost every one of our ancient ancestors participated in this activity, and it has many benefits. Violating this is almost impossible, since the necessities of daily life force almost everyone to be exposed to the sun every day instead of 20 minutes three times a week.
Even at the turn of the twentieth century, the most common occupation in the United States was that of a farmer who spent most of the day outside. Today, almost all of us work indoors. So even though we live at latitudes where we enjoy healthy sunlight exposure, most people don’t go outdoors and are stuck indoors all day.
I firmly believe that most of us should strive to spend an hour outdoors every day. Ideally that hour should be around solar noon to achieve the benefits of UVB and near IR wavelengths that, not only increase vitamin D, but additionally increase a storage form of energy known as structured water that can power your body when you don’t have sun exposure.