Do you need a ‘dose’ of nature?

We know that spending time in nature reduces stress but until now it was unclear how much is enough. To establish an effective “dose” of nature, subjects were asked to have a nature experience of 10 minutes or more at least three times a week. Participants were free to choose the time of day, duration and place of their nature experience, so long as it was anywhere outside that made them feel like they had interacted with nature. Subjects were instructed to have the nature experience in daylight with no aerobic exercise and no social media, internet, phone calls, conversations or reading. Levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, were measured from saliva samples taken once every two weeks before and after a nature experience. Results showed that for the greatest stress relief you should spend 20 to 30 minutes sitting or walking in a place that provides you with a sense of nature.

Source: Frontiers in Psychology