120 minutes of walking in nature is good for you

Botanist Kathy Willis asked herself why walking through or being in certain landscapes feels so good and whether there is scientific evidence for this.

Ms Willis is not badly placed to investigate: she was scientific director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London and is currently professor of biodiversity at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford.

In an interview in the NewScientist she explains some striking findings that you may have experienced yourself for a long time, but which she scientifically underlines and confirms:

1. " We can measure that our physical or mental well-being responds positively when we see or walk through specific landscapes. Our bodies respond best to an open landscape with a few scattered trees and woodland (parklands and heathlands) . This makes us physiologically and psychologically calmer…These landscapes result in a specific brainwave response – increased alpha and beta frequencies and decreased delta frequencies – which research has shown to be linked to increased focus and a sense of calm."
2. “After gallbladder surgery, people who could see a green scene (landscape) from their hospital window recovered three times faster and needed much less pain medication than those who only looked out over a brick wall”
3. “…when we look at nature…our heart rate and blood pressure drop, stress hormones like adrenaline decrease, and our brainwave activity increases in areas that show we are calmer and clearer in mind”
4. “For example, scientists in Japan have shown that people who heard nature sounds during surgery with epidural anesthesia had lower levels of a stress-related enzyme that indicates pain than others who listened to no sound.”
5. "Areas with a lot of variation in nature lead to greater biodiversity and a diverse microbiome. Research has indeed shown that toddlers, after playing for fourteen days in a playground with soil from a boreal forest, had effectively adopted the signature of the soil microbiome on their skin and in their intestines. And they had fewer inflammatory markers in their blood, which indicates an improved immune system. The same has been found in adults."

Simply put, walking in nature is good for you. She also recommends the following for optimal effect:

• at least 20 minutes at a time and at least 120 minutes in total per week in that nature
• preferably in landscapes with variation (forests, shrubs, meadows, ...)
• preferably with places that smell wonderful (the smell of cedars and plants of the juniper family are excellent for relaxing us, and you can find them in heathland areas ).

Experience all this for yourself and put on your walking shoes. Select a walk via the button below that takes about two hours and that guides you through nature.

To nature walks of +/- 120 minutes