Spending time in nature is good for you. Areas with more trees tend to be less polluted, so spending time there allows you to breathe easier. Spending time outdoors has been linked with reduced blood pressure and stress, and seems to motivate people to exercise more. Given our human evolutionary history, it makes sense that being in nature allows us to feel at home, secure, near a source of food and water and being able to enjoy soothing vistas. Studies have shown that even just looking at nature pictures, for example in hospital rooms, can have beneficial effects, like reducing stress and speeding the healing process. But when it comes to knowing exactly how much time is required to be beneficial, up until now we had no way of quantifying it.
A new study aimed to better understand the relationships between time spent in nature per week and self-reported health and subjective well-being. The magic number: 2 hours a week. That, according to the researchers is the mark from where on participants noted significantly improved well-being.
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