Why doctors are prescribing time outdoors

A walk in the park has always been good advice. Now it is increasingly part of formal treatment. In a number of health systems, doctors and nurses can refer patients to nature based programmes in the same way they might refer them to a physiotherapist.

What a green prescription looks like

The programmes vary widely. Some are guided walking groups that meet at the same time each week. Others involve conservation volunteering, community gardening or outdoor exercise classes. The common thread is regular, structured time outside, often in the company of other people.

They are most often offered to people dealing with stress, mild anxiety or low mood, loneliness, or long periods of inactivity, and they are designed to sit alongside other care rather than replace it.

The common thread is regular, structured time outside, often in the company of other people.

Why it seems to help

Researchers point to several overlapping benefits. Walking is gentle exercise that most people can manage. Daylight helps regulate sleep. Group programmes create social contact and a reason to leave the house, and many people find that green spaces simply feel calming.

Studies have repeatedly linked regular time in nature with better reported wellbeing, although researchers caution that it is hard to separate the effects of the outdoors from the effects of exercise and company.

Getting started on your own

• Aim for consistency over distance. A twenty minute walk most days beats one long hike a month.
• Find a local walking group or volunteering project, which makes it easier to keep going.
• Leave the headphones at home now and then and pay attention to your surroundings.

Anyone with a health condition should talk to a professional before changing their routine. For most people, though, the advice is refreshingly simple: get outside, and keep going back.