If a stroll in the park has ever left you lighter than when you started, science is catching up with that feeling. Studies comparing forest walks with city walks have found that people in green settings come back with calmer heart rates and better moods. Even twenty minutes in a city park or a patch of woods seems to deliver more stress relief than the same walk past traffic and storefronts.
Nature also seems to help with the mental loops we all get stuck in. In one study, people who walked through oak woodland for under an hour reported less anxiety and less brooding than those who walked along a busy road, and they did a bit better on memory tasks too. Researchers think natural scenery gives our overworked attention a break from the constant pings of modern life.
Perhaps the most charming finding is that greenery may make us nicer. Volunteers who looked at beautiful nature scenes acted more generously and trustingly in experiments, and people who spent just a minute gazing up at tall trees were more helpful afterward than those who looked at a tall building. The likely ingredient is a small, welcome dose of awe.
You do not need a backpacking trip to benefit. Try leaving your phone in your pocket on your next walk, choose the leafy route over the quick one, or eat lunch near a window that looks out on trees. The point is simple: notice what is growing around you, and let it do some of the work of calming you down.
Source: Greater Good Magazine
