Ruminations: Health Benefits of Strolling in Green Landscapes

"As little as five minutes of green exercise can be beneficial."
"You may experience greater mental health benefits if you are able to be active outside in a natural environment."
"But, since physical activity is extremely important for our physical and mental health no matter what you do or where you do it, just keep being active."
Claire Wicks, senior research assistant, University of Essex, Britain

Stroll in Bilberry Creek Ravine Forest, Ottawa

A short, leafy stroll improves working memory and concentration notably more than does taking an indoor walk, findings of a new, small study of the neurological effects of "green exercise"; physical activity conducted within a natural landscape. Katherine Boere, a neuroscience doctoral candidate who led the neurological study of green exercise, checked research showing that walking in an interior or out in nature generally increased blood flow, clearing people's minds.

She decided to undertake her own study which began when she and her colleagues gathered 30 college students, tested their working memory and capacity to focus and then choosing alternate days, had them walk for roughly 15 minutes both inside a building or alternately on leaf-canopied paths -- and then repeated the cognitive tests. The outside walk readily surpassed the health effects of the indoor walks. Resulting in better concentration, with students responding with greater alacrity achieving results according with scientific theories on how nature affects the human mind.

One widely held theory holds that the natural world encourages people to relax, diminishing the force of internal ruminations on pressing concerns, allowing our busy brains to experience quiet periods. Nature's effect is what scientists name "soft fascination", explained Ms.Boere, holding our attention and not demanding constant intellectual processing. The overtaxed focus can relax, reset and moving past the event -- people are able to concentrate and reason more readily.

There is, of course, the anticipated physiological effects that walking has on thinking; the augmented flow of blood and oxygen to the brain. That study Ms.Boere was involved with, was titled by herself and her co-authors: Exercising is good for the brain but exercising outside is potentially better.

Other research shows that the effects can extend beyond brief improvements in concentration, to an increase in motivation -- and in the process exercise feels less burdensome. A study published a year ago out of China saw young, inactive people with obesity begin walking in a park or gym on alternate days, reporting feeling considerably less stressed, enjoying exercise more than when they walked for exercise in interiors.

In a previous study of older men and women who wore activity trackers for a week, those who walked outside voluntarily exercised roughly 30 minutes more during the week than those who walked inside. Exercise that is strenuous can feel far easier to perform and more enjoyable within green surroundings -- a landscape can make an important difference.

Researchers found that exercising in urbanized outdoor settings -- commercial districts, downtown areas, and other cityscapes with few trees and other natural elements -- tended to be less beneficial for people's mental health than similar exercise undertaken in greener, natural environments such as community parks and urban forests. Even the unforgiving pavements can cause physical stress to feet, quite unlike walking in a green space or on a forest floor.

In a review of past research published in 2022, people reported feeling tranquil following a walk or gentle jogging for about 15 minutes through parks or similar landscapes, but less so when the exercise lasted for 40 minutes or longer, or was felt to be physically exhausting. A six-kilometre run in a park helped to calm women in one study cited by the review; doubling that distance to about 14 km turned out to be less satisfying.