Research
Adherence
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.
Exercise in nature improves general health, but so does exercise in built environments like streets or gyms. If your goal is purely general health, the location matters less than consistency. However, if you also want better mood, choose nature.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
General health was positively associated with physical activity in both built and natural outdoor settings.
Why this rating
Cross-sectional survey data with controls for confounders; significant association found but effect size is moderate.
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
cross_sectional · n=2070Cited 190×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Repeated physical activity performed in natural environments provides greater benefits for emotional well-being compared to physical activity in built indoor or outdoor 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
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