If you want to reduce your stress level, go out

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Only twenty minutes a day can significantly reduce your stress

It is not always easy to go out. You have work, children, commitments – and if you live in cold weather, you are probably waking up from a two-year deep hibernation caused by the cold. Besides, there are people out there, blech. But a new study shows that only 20 minutes a day in nature can help alleviate the stress created by all these activities.

The paper, published by Frontiers in Psychology, reviews research gathered after sending 36 city-dwellers outside for a Nature Experience (NE), defined as "spending time in an outdoor venue." which provides a contact with nature ". Ten minutes outdoors at least three times a week for eight weeks, then test the cortisol levels of their participants to see if this time spent outside was affecting their stress level.

"We know that spending time in nature reduces stress, but until now, we did not know how much it was enough, how often to do it, or even what kind of experience in nature would benefit us, "the study's lead author, MaryCarol Hunter, told Science Daily. "Our study shows that to get the best results, in terms of effectively reducing cortisol levels, a stress hormone, you should spend 20 to 30 minutes sitting or walking in a place that gives you a glimpse of nature."

Obviously, there is no need to study to know that being outdoors can improve your mood, especially when it's sunny (hello vitamin D). But this is the first time that the duration, frequency and quality of nature are measured to the extent that they relate to stress hormones.

"Participants were free to choose the time of day, duration and location of their experience in the wild, which was defined as being outside of what, in the participant's opinion, gave them the impression to have interacted with nature, "said Hunter. "There were some constraints to minimize the factors known to influence stress: take the pill for nature in broad daylight, not aerobic exercise, and avoid the use of social media, internet, phone calls , conversations and reading. "

The data also revealed that only 20 minutes outdoors were enough to significantly reduce cortisol levels and that 20 to 30 minutes in the wild let them down to their lowest level.

Anyone who has suffered from depression, PLR or anxiety knows how hard it can be to get out of the couch, let alone get motivated to walk in the sun. But with the diagnoses of major depressive disorder growing steadily since 2013, affecting more than nine million Americans, mostly teenagers, it is more than ever necessary to only do one with nature.

"Health practitioners can use our results as a factual rule of thumb to determine what to prescribe in a pill prescription for nature," says Hunter. "It provides the first estimates of the impact of nature's experiences on stress levels in the context of normal everyday life. It breaks new ground by addressing some of the challenges of measuring an effective dose in nature. "

The ultimate goal of the study? Communicate a "prescription of nature" that health care providers can use with patients to provide a "preventive and self-administered health treatment for mental well-being, inexpensive and effective in everyday environments ".