The beautiful girl in a white shirt and pink pants leads to Lion Rock. The front view of Sigiriya Rock Fortress in Sri Lanka.

“Go Outside!” 

My mother’s words hung like the buzz of a fly over my prolonged video game session as a teenager. But there are bugs outside. And the sun is bright and gets in my eyes. And there is no A/C outside. Despite my excuses, my mother’s voice still echoes sometimes to this day, just switch out the video games for scrolling on social media or binging Netflix. I love the idea of being in nature, but turning said love into action often seems to get lost in translation. The work-life/home-life balance is more blurry than ever, inflation has made it difficult to afford food or pay rent with an average full-time job, and nine out of ten Americans report going online daily now, according to Pew Research (Gelles-Watnick, 2024). This leaves us feeling burnt out and makes the idea of disrupting our routine to “take a walk,” or “get some fresh air,” all that much less appealing. The excuses of our youth have only multiplied, and it’s easier to ignore the echo of my mother than my actual mother. But I hope to give the echo, the thought of going outside, a little more convincing power with this article.

I want to start by grounding us in one of the realities of today– we are chronically online. According to Pew Research, 41% of adults report being online “constantly.” This number jumps to 62%, or 6 out of 10, in ages 18 to 29 (Gelles-Watnick, 2024). Individuals in urban areas, who are a growing percentage, are also about a third more likely to spend time online than those in rural settings (Gelles-Watnick, 2024). This is all to say that if you find yourself spending more time than you would like inside and online, you are not alone. But what do we actually gain by going outside? We’ll look at benefits in two primary areas: connectedness and cognition.

Connectedness is a broad word, but for the sake of this article, we will define it as a general sense of connection to nature. Think walking barefoot through a grassy field or enjoying the first crisp fall breeze as you walk to your car in September. In a UK study of over 20,000 individuals, researchers found that those who spent two or more hours in nature a week reported significantly higher levels of wellbeing and health (White et al., 2019). Connection to nature has also been found to be one of the biggest predictors of happiness, while also playing a significant role in positive self-concept (how we perceive ourselves) (Zelenski & Nisbet, 2014). Not only this, but connection to nature also leads to a greater sense of purpose in life (referred to as eudaimonic wellbeing) (Pritchard et al., 2020) and, for those of us who are more introverted, actually offsets many of the negative impacts of social isolation (Cartwright et al., 2018). In short, feeling connected to nature helps us feel more human, like a better version of ourselves, and happier. 

Time in nature also has benefits for our brains. In a fascinating Australian study, researchers gave two groups of students a set of tasks to complete in a certain timeframe (Lee et al., 2015). The first group was shown a view of a concrete roof at the 40-second mark of the set of tasks, while the second group was shown a view of a green, flowery roof. The second group performed significantly better on the set of tasks than the concrete group did (Lee et al., 2015). Similar tests have been used to test the impact of nature sounds versus traffic and busy cafe noises, with those who listened to nature sounds performing significantly better on cognitive challenges (Van Hedger et al., 2019). Exposure to natural environments also improves working memory, cognitive flexibility, and attentional control, whereas exposure to urban environments is linked to attention deficits (Schertz & Berman, 2019). Similarly, in children, green spaces near schools support cognitive development, and green views at home are associated with stronger self-control behaviors (Schertz & Berman, 2019). So in addition to the connectedness benefits, nature also improves our memory, aids us in self-control, reduces attention deficits, supports brain development, and helps our performance on demanding cognitive tasks.

Hopefully these statistics help to turn the idea of going outside from a happy-yet-vague sentiment into an established benefit to our life. Here are three simple thoughts I’d like to leave you with. First, connection to nature is not always about being outside. Taking a moment to look at a bird outside of our window or letting a sunset wash over us as we drive home in the evening traffic can provide many of the benefits I listed above. Due to the busyness of the culture we live in, it is often impossible to spend multiple hours a day outside, but we can still connect in small ways if we are looking. Second, connection to nature looks different for everyone, and that is ok. I may enjoy writing a poem and imagining flowery language to describe how a gust of wind blows through the trees, but there are a million other ways to connect to nature for those who are less sentimental, such as playing a round of disc golf at a local park, gardening, going for a hike, camping, nature photography, or going for a picnic, just to name a few. Lastly, use creative thinking to build nature connection into your schedule. Build it into your morning routine as you sip your coffee. Use your lunch break to go for a 5 minute walk. Leave flip flops by the door so there are less barriers to get outside. Make small commitments such as walking to get the mail.

So all of this to say, look out your window. Watch a bird skip from branch to branch. Notice a golden sun ray as it streams through the canopy of trees above. Listen to the breeze as it plays across a wind chime. And if the reasons not to slip away, even if but for a moment, “Go Outside.” 

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