Nature Exposure and Wellbeing: An Overview of the Evidence

Why Researchers Are Paying Attention to Nature

Over the past two decades, a substantial body of research has explored whether and how contact with natural environments affects human health. The interest is partly driven by a global trend: more than half the world's population now lives in urban areas, and many people spend the majority of their waking hours indoors. That shift has prompted scientists to ask what, if anything, is lost when regular nature contact declines.

Studies have examined self-reported wellbeing, physiological stress markers like cortisol and heart rate variability, attention and cognitive performance, and mood. The findings are generally positive — people who spend more time in natural settings tend to report lower stress, better mood, and higher life satisfaction than those with less nature contact. That said, most of this research is observational, meaning it identifies associations rather than proving that nature causes the improvements.

For context on how nature fits alongside other well-studied habits, see our overview of social connection as a health habit.

What the Evidence Specifically Shows

Several research threads are worth understanding separately, because they point to different mechanisms and different strengths of evidence.

Stress and physiological markers

Controlled studies — some conducted in Japan under the practice known as shinrin-yoku (forest bathing) — have found that walking in forested environments is associated with lower salivary cortisol, reduced blood pressure, and lower pulse rate compared to walking in urban settings. These are short-term physiological measurements, and the practical significance of the differences remains a subject of ongoing study.

Mood and mental health

Large survey-based studies, including a notable 2019 study published in Scientific Reports, found that spending at least 120 minutes per week in nature was associated with significantly higher odds of good health and wellbeing. Importantly, the benefit appeared to plateau — more time did not appear to produce proportionally greater benefit in that data. This kind of correlation-based finding cannot rule out the possibility that healthier people simply choose to spend more time outside.

Attention and cognitive restoration

Attention Restoration Theory, developed by environmental psychologists Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, proposes that natural environments support recovery from directed attention fatigue — the mental tiredness that comes from sustained, focused work. Some experimental studies support this, showing improved performance on attention tasks after nature walks. The effect sizes vary and replication has been mixed.

“The restorative benefits of nature are not a luxury — they appear to be a genuine component of what supports sustained human attention and mental functioning, based on converging evidence from multiple study types.”

— Ming Kuo, Environmental psychologist and researcher, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Limitations and Honest Caveats

The nature-wellbeing literature is encouraging, but a careful reading reveals real limitations. Most studies rely on self-report measures, which are subject to bias. Randomized controlled trials — the gold standard for causal inference — are difficult to design in this area and remain relatively rare. Effect sizes in many studies are modest. Publication bias (the tendency to publish positive findings) may mean the full picture is less clear-cut than headlines suggest.

Access is another factor the research itself highlights: green space is not equally distributed across income levels or racial groups in the United States. Studies showing population-level associations between green space and health may partly reflect broader socioeconomic patterns rather than nature's effects in isolation.

For a deeper look at the specific evidence on green and blue spaces, our companion article on nature and mental well-being covers what the research broadly suggests and where gaps remain.

How Nature Fits Into a Broader Wellbeing Picture

Nature exposure doesn't operate in isolation. Much of the existing research suggests it complements — rather than replaces — other wellbeing habits that have stronger evidentiary support.

Combining outdoor time with physical activity, for instance, may amplify the effects of both. Physical activity and emotional balance are already well-linked in the literature; adding a natural setting to exercise may provide additional benefit, though the independent contribution of each factor is hard to disentangle.

Similarly, spending time outdoors with others merges the potential benefits of nature with those of social interaction. And reducing screen time to make room for outdoor time may have its own relevance — a balanced look at that trade-off appears in our article on digital detoxing for mental health.

This article is for general informational purposes only and is not medical or mental health advice. If you have concerns about stress, mood, or mental health, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.