Taking just 20 minutes out of your day to stroll or sit near nature will significantly lower your stress hormone levels, a new study suggests.
Healthcare practitioners can use this finding to prescribe ‘nature pills’ to have a real measurable effect, according to researchers from the University of Michigan.
“We know that spending time in nature reduces stress, but until now it was unclear how much is enough, how often to do it, or even what kind of nature experience will benefit us,” said lead author MaryCarol Hunter from the varsity.
For the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, the research team involved 36 participants. Over an eight-week period, they were asked to take a ‘nature pill’ for at least 10 minutes, three times a week.
Levels of cortisol—a stress hormone—were measured from saliva samples taken before and after taking the ‘nature pill’, once every two weeks.
