Just 20 minutes in nature eradicates stress

Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer was already recommending two hours’ daily activity in nature years ago, and now scientists are giving us an even easier goal: just 20 minutes spent in nature to reduce stress.

To arrive at this finding, researchers focused on measuring how much cortisol, AKA the stress hormone, is produced. Published in Frontiers in Psychology, the study 1 involved 44 city-dwellers who were tasked with spending at least 10 minutes in nature three times a week.

The optimal length of time to spend in nature in order to reduce stress was found to be between 20 and 30 minutes, based on the questionnaires and cortisol measurements produced by the study subjects. Over 30 minutes, the benefits continue to grow, but at lesser proportion.

For the most effective approach, you really need to get lost in nature without taking your smartphone with you, too. So give it a try – disconnect for at least 20 minutes every day, tear yourself away from your screens and go and admire nature with your own eyes.

1 MaryCarol Rossiter Hunter. Brenda W. Gillespie. Sophie Yu-Pu Chen. Urban Nature Experiences Reduce Stress in the Context of Daily Life Based on Salivary Biomarkers. Front. Psychol., 04 April 2019.