How Nature Improves Your Mental Health (According to Science)

TRANSCRIPT:

Seth Larson: Are you feeling stressed, scattered, or mentally drained? Here's a surprising fact. Just 10 minutes in nature can measurably reduce stress and improve happiness, and research across 75 countries shows that feeling connected to nature is linked to greater wellbeing. In this episode, I'll be joined by an applied psychologist to dig into the science behind why stepping outside can actually be good for your brain, and also what that means for both mental health and the future of nature. Stay tuned.

Welcome to Nature Breaking, a podcast produced by World Wildlife Fund. I'm Seth Larson.

For many of us, daily life feels more fast-paced, stressful, and plugged-in than ever. We spend more time indoors or on screens and less time in the places that once shaped our sense of calm and connection. Yet a growing body of research shows something both simple and profound: spending time in nature is good for our mental health. Forests, grasslands, and other ecosystems don't just support wildlife or regulate our climate. They also reduce stress, improve mood, boost attention, and strengthen our resilience.

So today, in recognition of Mental Health Awareness month, we're exploring that connection. I'll be joined today by Dr. Dennis Stolle, executive lead psychologist for applied psychology at the American Psychological Association, or the APA. WWF and APA are teaming up this month to elevate the links between nature and mental health. We'll talk about why natural environments are so important for psychological wellness. What the latest research tells us about how nature affects our brains and bodies, and how each of us can build simple, sustainable habits to feel more connected and more grounded in the natural world.

Before we get started, don't forget to subscribe to Nature Breaking on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen or watch. And if you have ideas for future topics, email us at [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you, and now let's get into my conversation with Dr. Stolle.

I'm really excited to be joined now by Dr. Dennis Stolle. Dennis, welcome to Nature Breaking, it's great to be speaking with you today.

Dennis Stolle: Great, I’m so happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

Seth Larson: I think for many of us, the pandemic brought a lot of sudden awareness about the link between time outdoors and mental health, but I'm guessing that experts like yourself have been making that link for a long time. Can you briefly just talk about how our understanding of this link between nature and mental health has evolved over time?

Dennis Stolle: Yeah, sure. There's been research going on specifically the links between nature and psychological well-being for decades. And a lot of it, a lot of the work is really grounded in ideas that are fundamental to modern psychology. Things like the idea of the person and the situation. And what I mean by the person in the situation is the notion that we can't understand human behavior or predict human behavior based solely on people's internal personalities. We also cannot predict it based solely on the environment or the situation that we're in. What we have to do is look at the interaction between those two things. And...

Seth Larson: Sure.

Dennis Stolle: ...that just ties nicely to this work because when, you think about the different environments, nature... is the biggest environment and the most reliable environment that we have.

Seth Larson: Yeah.

Dennis Stolle: know, really where I see that there's been change over time is that a lot of compelling ideas have more recently changed into what is more a, of a consistent body of scientific evidence. And so, you go back to say, the 1980s, and there were people talking about concepts like biophilia.

And, you know, biophilia is a pretty simple but powerful idea that we evolved in natural environments, and so we need natural environments, and we respond to natural environments. What's changed is the science, and so the science has begun to really test these propositions across lots of different studies, across different countries, and we're seeing over and over again consistent types of results and, good results.

Basically that time in nature brings us better levels of attention, it can lower our stress, it can improve our mood. It just basically helps our overall well-being. And so what used to just be theory is now turned into a pretty consistent body of evidence. And we're no longer asking whether nature matters, we know that it does. We're getting into much more refined questions at this point about exactly how does it matter.

Seth Larson: Yeah, that was honestly gonna be my next question. I'm curious if you can tease that out a little further and help us understand what's actually happening in our brains when we spend time outdoors? What do we really know about that sort of chemical reaction and what's happening there?

Dennis Stolle: Yeah. Yeah. What's interesting about that question to me is what's happening in our brains when we spend time outdoors really should be the default, right? And, so I wanna come at it by first talking about what's happening in our brains when we're not spending time outdoors, Because the new model of humanity. And so we've, evolved into a situation where we've created modern environments, built environments, technological environments that really demand a lot of attention from us. But we haven't paid that much attention to building environments to sort of restore attention. So just to kind of really put this in concrete terms, I think we can all relate to modern life is we're constantly filtering information. We're getting notifications, they're coming on our phone, we're hearing conversations. We're seeing…

Seth Larson: Yeah.

Dennis Stolle: …all these different screens. We're constantly engaged in decisions. All of this, what happens in our brain is it engages our executive attention system. And so basically that's the part of our brain that that filters and prioritizes and tries to keep us on task That's not easy. It takes effort It's almost like exercise…

Seth Larson: Yeah.

Dennis Stolle: ...it can fatigue over time. It's a little bit like running too many apps on your computer at once and it starts to slow down.

Seth Larson: Yeah, I mean that, I think we've all had that sensation of leaving a day at the office where you didn't do anything but sit at your desk and respond to emails or have Zoom calls, and you leave to go home at the end of the day and you feel exhausted. And how can that be? I didn't do anything strenuous.

Dennis Stolle: Exactly. Yeah. You've been sitting... I have that experience all the time. I've sat at my desk all day. How can I be this tired? It's amazing. And, you know, I like to think about it not really, not in terms of, sort of illness or wellness, but in terms of overall quality of life.

Because these environments that we're building, they're not neutral. They're having an influence over how our attention is being used. And then when you shift that to what was the beginning of your question which is what's happening in natural environments Well natural environments are different than that still engage our attention, but they do it in a less demanding way. And you can imagine yourself sitting outside and noticing a caterpillar and watching it. And just being you know, taken by that. Hearing the raindrops hit the house or whatever it may be. It's still attention, but it's not that jumping back and forth, highly demanding and fatiguing kind of attention.

And the result of that is that our brain essentially gets a reset, and attention starts to recover. That mental fatigue, it starts to decrease. I see it in the science and I hear it from people who I know They say that often after being outside even for just a little while they feel more clear in their minds And that's because it's really reflecting a shift how our attention is being used, and it gives us that chance to kind of recharge our batteries.

Seth Larson: Yeah, I think all of us have had that experience and can anecdotally speak to that feeling true, but I think it's really interesting that we have this body of evidence that really backs that up now. You mentioned how time outdoors can sharpen our cognition and lengthen our attention and all that.

I want to focus for a minute on how it can impact our mood. What is it about spending time outdoors that makes us happier and what's that all about?

Dennis Stolle: Okay. Yeah, that's great because it is not just about thinking, it's also about feeling. And nature helps reduce some of these things that wear us down and there's a solid and ever-growing body of research at this point, that shows reductions in stress when people spend time in nature. And it's interesting because the science comes at it from multiple different directions. And so we see people not only reporting that they feel less stressed, but also showing biological indicators. So things like reduced heart rate and cortisol levels and so on. So really objective biological markers that spending time in nature can actually lower these stress levels. that Then more at a kind of what's happening in your mind level, we also see from the research less rumination. And rumination is important. It's a word that I we all kind of use you know, in our day-to-day life, but it's important in psychology because rumination is this idea of turning certain thoughts over and over in your mind.

Seth Larson: Yeah.

Dennis Stolle: Rumination is highly connected with all kinds of adverse psychological consequences. It's connected to depression, it's connected to anxiety. It's just not a good thing to do, but we can fall into that, trap really easily. So when we get that reduced, that's a great thing to have.

People report that after spending time in nature, they're, they feel less taxed, they feel less mentally scattered. And it's not that nature is injecting something artificial, it's more like it's removing something. It's removing some of that strain that we have from the built environment and those technological systems that take up and demand so much of our attention and energy. And when, you reduce stress, when you reduce negative thought patterns, people feel better. They're more happy. They feel more stable. They feel more positive. you know, it's as simple as reduced stress equals happier people.

Seth Larson: Yeah, so it's almost like nature is serving this function of disrupting those patterns that we all fall into where we start dwelling on, thinking about all the different ways that things could go wrong in our lives, or worrying about something that we're responsible for a few days from now, or doom scrolling, as the term...

Dennis Stolle: Yes.

Seth Larson: ...you know makes clear, that's not a good thing. But stepping outside just for a few minutes kind of disrupts all of that, negative stimulation that we've been subjecting ourselves to, and can free us a little bit to feel a release from that pressure.

Dennis Stolle: Absolutely. And it has parallels to mindfulness meditation, which has really taken off in, recent years, as, you probably know, and shows great results. And similar to mindfulness meditation, nature can kind of just help get us out of that trap of constantly thinking about the future and thinking about the past and bring us into the here and now and let us kind of reset.

Seth Larson: Yeah. So you've spoken to this a little bit already, but I feel like maybe we can just hone in on it a little more. People, especially young people, but really all of us are spending so much of our time indoors and online now. And what else can you tell us about how that shift is affecting our mental health? I'm gathering from what you said already that the effects are negative. But how much do we really know about that?

Dennis Stolle: Yeah. It... there's no question that we have, in recent years, been seeing, An increase in reports of mental health challenges and we're especially seeing it among younger people There are no doubt a lot of factors that are driving that And so It's not necessarily useful to point to just one single cause I wouldn't want to imply that being inside is the cause of all of that but it is probably one of many contributing factors.

Seth Larson: Yeah

Dennis Stolle: And you just, you look at the way that society is evolving and we have built these environments that demand a tremendous amount of attention from us and that keep people indoors. And when you think about it in the history of humanity is a relatively recent development. I mean, it doesn't feel that way in our lifetimes, but when you look at it over the course of human development this is relatively recent. And we are still in the mode of figuring out what out that means and adapting to it. And when I think about the topic mental health, I always think of it in terms of a continuum. Not a binary approach of illness and wellness. But it's a continuum where it goes all the way from severe struggling and severe mental illness at one end of the continuum to psychological flourishing at the other end of the continuum. And so, no matter where you are on that continuum, nature tends to push you a little bit farther toward the positive end of that continuum so that's really, really important to me because it means that it's important for everybody, not just somebody struggling with challenges, but people who are doing really well can do even a little bit better If they embrace some of these ideas.

And the science backs it up. I mean there are studies, again across the world, a study across 75 countries that, feeling connected to nature tends to increase the sense of hope, of optimism and purpose.

You know, the more life shifts towards our screens and our indoor environments, the more I think we need to seek out these kinds of restorative natural environments for our own good.

Seth Larson: Yeah, so let's talk about, you know, what some best practices might be for people who are wanting to maximize the benefits they can get from spending out time outdoors and, having that help their mental well-being. None of us are going to be perfect, some people have jobs and careers that take them outside a lot. For lots of us, including myself, after we finish recording this today, I'm going to go back to two more hours of sending emails and doing Zoom calls, uh, for a lot of us, it can be a challenge to work this into our lives on a regular basis. But, generally speaking, you know, what can people do in a reasonable fashion? What kind of environment should they seek out? How much time outdoors should they be thinking about trying to incorporate? What can you tell us?

Dennis Stolle: Sure. Yeah, you are absolutely right that it can be challenging. But there's good news here. And the good news is that the bar is just not set that high, so even short periods of time, the studies consistently show this, even short periods of time, I'm talking 10 to 20 minutes outdoors in nature, can have measurable benefits. More than that is great, and you know, I can say that from my own personal perspective, I see it in my life.

My son runs a sustainable farming operation. You know, the work that I do usually looks exactly like what you’re seeing here, where I’m sitting in front of a computer, I’m talking to people, and so on and so forth. But occasionally I go, and I help my son out on, the farm. And that difference in the environment, being outdoors and working with physical systems, I can feel the change in my body, and I can see the change in my thinking over the course a day. But, you know, I'm not saying that you need to run out and, buy a farm or start farm work, because again, the bar's not set that high.

Seth Larson: Yeah.

Dennis Stolle: The real point is more of consistency. It's short frequent exposure that tends to really make a big difference more so than the occasional long exposure and it…

Seth Larson: Yeah.

Dennis Stolle: …doesn’t have to be a special environment. I'm talking about green spaces, trees, grass, you know, these kinds of simple areas. In it includes blue spaces too, water. So if you can walk out and take a look at a lake, even if it's a retention pond your neighborhood or close to where you work, it can make a difference. You know, my tip is to just try to keep it simple. Find a place where you can put your attention on something natural, and you can settle and go there regularly. I know that some of your listeners are, listening to the audio only, not seeing the video, but you can probably see that me sitting here in my office, I've... you might be able to see I've got a bunch of plants behind me.

Seth Larson: Yeah.

Dennis Stolle: And so that's, you know, that's part of what I do, I’m bringing nature inside, and it gives me a chance to turn around from my desk and inspect the plants, see how they're doing, which one needs water. And it takes my mind off things for a minute, it helps.

Seth Larson: I think that's a really good point to make. When we say that people need to spend time in nature, some people might immediately assume that we're talking about, you need to go immerse yourself in a forest and be somewhere where there's no sign of human intervention. And yeah, that's great if that's available to you.

But if there's just, you know, a small city park, in your neighborhood or a green space or any kind of water, anything better than sitting at your desk staring at, a blue screen all day.

Dennis Stolle: Right

Seth Larson: I did just have one last question for you. And that's that, you know, part of our joint message is that human wellbeing depends on healthy ecosystems, but also that those ecosystems depend on us. And I wanted to ask how understanding that relationship can motivate people to become advocates for nature.

Dennis Stolle: Right. Right. I find it useful to think about this in terms of the alignment. And so again, I'm kind of going back to this concept of the person and the situation, where the situation is climate, the environment, whatever space you find yourself in. You know, wellbeing depends on healthy environments, whether we're talking about workplace environment or any kind of environment, but natural environments are part of that.

We need to have healthy natural environments in order to support our own wellbeing. When people understand that nature improves quality of their life, how they function, you know, how they think, the amount of focus they can have, how they feel, the amount of happiness and joy that they get from life, it answers the question of "what’s in it for me?” There’s a lot in it for everyone. And that makes people more likely to value it. And it becomes not just an abstract idea of trying to engage in conservation or support nature. It becomes much more directly connected to a person’s daily life. So the “what’s in it for you” is quality of life, and the quality of life for those who you love. And if those are things that you care about, then this is a topic you should care about.

Seth Larson: Yeah, well said. Thank you so much. I think that's a great place to leave it. Dennis, I also just want to thank you and APA for your partnership in helping us talk about some of these topics and educate our followers and supporters about this link between nature and mental health. I think it's something that we all can benefit from learning a little bit more about and thinking a little bit more deliberately about. So thank you for your time today. I really appreciate it and enjoy the rest of your week.

Dennis Stolle: Well, thank you so much, and thanks to WWF.

Seth Larson: Okay. That's a wrap for today's episode. My thanks again to Dr. Dennis Stolle and the American Psychological Association for helping us explore the powerful and increasingly well-documented connection between nature and mental health. If there's one takeaway here, it's this nature isn't a luxury or an extra, it's a resource for our wellbeing, one that's available to all of us and often in small simple ways. And when we care for nature, it returns the favor. In short, we need nature and nature needs us, now. Thanks for listening to Nature Breaking and together let's keep building a more sustainable future.

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How Nature Improves Your Mental Health (According to Science)

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