Adherence
Repeated physical activity performed in natural environments provides greater benefits for emotional well-being compared to physical activity in built indoor or outdoor environments.
To maximize mental health benefits from exercise, prioritize doing it in natural settings like parks or forests over indoor gyms or built urban areas. While general health improves with exercise anywhere, your mood and emotional state will likely improve more if you exercise outdoors in nature.
Emotional well-being showed the most consistent positive connection to physical activity in nature... Repeated exercise in nature is, in particular, connected to better emotional well-being.
Why this rating
Cross-sectional survey data establishes correlation, not causation; however, the large sample size (n=2,070) and control for confounders strengthen the finding.
Source
The Relationship between Perceived Health and Physical Activity Indoors, Outdoors in Built Environments, and Outdoors in Nature
Tytti Pasanen et al. · Applied Psychology Health and Well-Being · 2014
DOI 10.1111/aphw.12031
More from this paper
- Physical activity performed in natural environments is positively associated with perceived general health, though this benefit is not exclusive to nature and is also seen in built environments.Moderate
- Frequent physical activity in nature is weakly connected to better sleep quality, but this connection is not robust and is outweighed by other factors such as disability or life events.Limited
Related findings · Adherence
- Regular physical activity (at least 150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity) reduces all-cause and cardiovascular mortality by 20-30% and lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes by 25-35%.Strong
- Increasing physical activity from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one in middle adulthood significantly reduces the risk of coronary events compared to remaining sedentary.Strong
- Resistance exercise is the only intervention capable of consistently restoring muscle function and strength in sarcopenia, partially overcoming age-related anabolic resistance.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →