A new study underscores just how important it is for your mental health to spend time in nature or green spaces.
HuffPost.com | By Jillian Wilson | Sep 14, 2022, 05:45 AM EDT | Updated Sep 15, 2022
Mental Health
There’s a reason why the sounds of nature — chirping birds, flowing streams, falling rain — are often sound options for white noise machines and meditation apps: They’re calming.
A new small study published in Molecular Psychiatry further underscores this. The study found that a one-hour nature walk reduces mental health stress when compared to a one-hour walk in a bustling city environment.
The study followed 63 people who were randomly assigned a nature walk or an urban walk. The nature walk took place in a forest in Berlin and the urban walk took place on a busy street in the city.
Participants were instructed not to check their phones or stop in stores while on their walk. They were given a bagged lunch and a phone with a 30-minute timer that instructed them to turn around.
Before the walk, participants filled out a questionnaire and then underwent an fMRI scan that measured two tasks.
The first task measured brain activity during a “fearful faces task,” in which participants were shown 15 female and 15 male faces that either had a neutral or scared expression. The second task measured was brain activity during an “Montreal Imaging Stress Task,” which is designed to create a level of stress in participants. During the task, participants had a set amount of time to solve challenging arithmetic problems.
After the walk, participants filled out another questionnaire and underwent another fMRI scan that measured the same tasks they conducted before their walk.
The results showed that nature significantly improved people’s mental health.
The study found that those who took part in the 60-minute nature walk experienced lower stress levels following their time outside.
“The results of our study show that after only [a] one-hour walk in nature, activity in brain regions involved in stress processing decreases,” Sonja Sudimac, the lead author of the study, told Medical News Today.
Particularly, the researchers found the brain’s amygdala activity (which is responsible for our stress and fear response) decreased in those who were in the nature walk group.
This decrease was not seen in people who completed the city walk. According to the study, urban environments can negatively impact one’s mental health, leading to increased rates of anxiety, depression and mood disorders. (Just think about the stress that comes with frequently honking horns, running to catch a bus or dealing with long lines just to get some groceries.)
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