Most Americans are not getting outside enough to experience the benefits nature provides to their physical a mental health, according to a new national survey.
Jay Maddock, a Regents Professor at Texas A&M University’s School of Public Health, said even brief exposure to nature — 10 minutes a day — can make a big difference.
“Nature really is all around us,” Maddock said. “It can reset our attention, improve our mood and even affect our immune functioning.”
Maddock, who serves as director of the Center for Health and Nature at Texas A&M, was part of the team behind the American Nature and Health Survey, which received responses from more than 3,000 Americans.
“Compared to 2016, our time in nature has really declined steadily,” Maddock said. “One of the reasons might be that we have so many conveniences that we didn’t have before. Things like delivery services, where you can get your groceries, your Amazon packages, your food delivered right to your door, keep us inside more and more often. Screen time, in its variety of forms, has increased dramatically in the last decade, and that’s been offset by less time outside.”
The survey, launched by REI Co-op and the Nature and Health Alliance (NHA) and supported through the REI Cooperative Action Fund, also highlighted a significant opportunity for healthcare providers: while only 20% of people had ever been told by a doctor to spend more time in nature, 83% said they would spend more time outside if their doctor recommended it.
The survey will track how people experience nature over time, creating a credible, data-driven foundation for understanding trends, barriers and opportunities to expand Americans’ access to and connection with the outdoors. The benchmark is expected to be updated every two years, creating a long-term measure of how Americans’ relationship with nature evolves over time.
Maddock equates spending time in nature with practices that are universally accepted as essential: eating right, exercising and getting enough sleep. He believes more doctors need to prescribe nature to encourage their patients to get outside.
“We asked about if people’s doctor ever recommended that they spend time in nature,” he said. “Only 20% of people had their doctor tell them that, but 83% said that if their doctor did recommend more time in nature, they would spend more time in nature.”
Key findings from the survey include:
- 84% of Americans say protecting nature is essential or very important.
- 79% agree that wild, open and natural spaces are part of being American.
- Nearly 45% spent less than two hours in nature during the previous week.
- 83% would increase time outdoors if recommended by a healthcare provider.
Maddock said the long-term survey will create “a shared foundation for researchers, healthcare leaders, community organizations and policymakers to better understand trends, barriers and opportunities over time.”
The survey follows last month’s release of “The Nature Dose,” an 11-minute documentary sponsored by outdoor gear giant REI that focuses on the health benefits of being outside.
It’s one of three short films created through a collaboration between The Redford Center, a nonprofit founded in 2005 by the late actor Robert Redford and his son to create environment-related films, and REI’s nonprofit Cooperative Action Fund, which supports projects related to making the outdoors more accessible.
“Over the past 20 years, we have become an indoor species, but spending time in nature is an easy way to improve our health,” Maddock said. “Sitting in a greenspace outside for just 10 minutes—the nature dose in the film’s name—has been found to reduce stress, lower blood pressure and strengthen our immune systems, and we can even bring health benefits indoors by adding houseplants.”
“The Nature Dose” was directed by Andrew Nadkarni and also highlights the work of Nalini Nadkarni, an expert on trees and their importance, and Jennifer Roberts, an expert on how environmental inequities affect physical health.
The other documentaries in the series are the 11-minute “Boys N the Wood: Resilience in the Redwoods,” about men who bond with each other and with nature in the California redwood forest, and the nine-minute “Marcus & Me: Connecting with Nature in Steel City,” about youth climbing opportunities in Pittsburgh’s industrial area.
– Texas A&M University Division of Marketing and Communications