Spending two hours a week in nature has a beneficial impact on our mental and physical health, says a new study.
“The art of medicine consists in distracting the patient while nature heals him”, said Voltaire. We have known for a long time about the benefits of nature on the body and the mind, but no researcher had yet calculated the immersion time necessary to have a concrete impact on the body. A new study published in the journal Scientific Reportsenlightens us on this point.
Researchers from the Universities of Exeter (UK) and Uppsala (Sweden) analyzed data from a large environmental study. After studying the age, gender, relationship status and sports habits of more than 20,000 participants, they met them and asked them questions, including: “are you satisfied with your life today?”, “how is your general health”, or “how much time have you spent in nature during the last seven days?”.
The researchers then averaged the amount of time participants spent in nature each week and found that to achieve any health or wellness benefit, we needed to spend at least two hours there per week. “Two hours a week is an achievable goal for many people,” enthuses Dr. Mathew P. White, lead author of the study.
The benefits of nature walks
Their study having been carried out on a very large sample of the population, the researchers hope that the health authorities will quickly take their results into account to put in place new measures. “There are many reasons why spending time in nature can benefit health and well-being.
Among them, taking a step back, reducing stress and enjoying quality time with family and friends”, explains Professor Terry Harting, co-author of the study. Thus, “health professionals could rely on our results to recommend to their patient to spend time in nature in the same way as they encourage them to practice regular physical activity”, he continues.
Green spaces beneficial for children’s concentration
The positive impact of nature and green spaces on mental and physical health has already been proven. A few weeks ago, a study suggested that the adults who grew up near green areas had better mental health than those from urban areas.
In 2015, Spanish scientists also demonstrated the benefits of nature on the memory and attention of children by studying the cognitive development of more than 2,500 children aged 6 to 10. Children who were in regular contact with nature had a better working memory and easier to concentrate at school than the others.
In the same logic, other studies had previously shown the benefit of green spaces on children suffering from hyperactivity or attention deficit disorder (ADHD). Thus, a twenty-minute walk in a park would improve the concentration of children with effects comparable to drugs, unlike a walk in an urban environment. Moreover, playing regularly in green environments would reduce the disorders of these children in comparison with those playing indoors or in concrete environments.
