Two hours a week outside
What a study of nearly 20,000 people found about time in nature, and how little it matters how you split it up.
Most advice about nature sounds like it was written for someone with a cabin. Two hours a week is more achievable. It’s a couple of long walks, or 20 minutes a day in a park.
What the study found
In 2019, researchers at the University of Exeter looked at survey data from 19,806 adults in England. Each person reported how much time they’d spent in nature in the past week, including parks, woods and beaches, and how their health and wellbeing were.
People who’d spent at least 120 minutes in nature that week were more likely to report good health and high wellbeing than people who’d spent none. Below two hours, there was no clear difference. The benefits levelled off somewhere between 200 and 300 minutes.1
It didn’t matter how the 120 minutes were made up.
One long visit or several short ones gave the same result. The pattern held for older adults and for people with long-term health conditions.
What it can and can’t tell us
This was a survey, so it shows a link, not cause and effect. Healthier people might simply get outside more. The researchers controlled for things like income, age and how green people’s neighbourhoods were, but they say themselves that trials are needed.
It’s still one of the largest studies on the question, and the threshold is useful. It gives you a number to aim for that fits into an ordinary week.
How to try it
Finding two hours
- Look at your week and find three or four 30-minute gaps.
- Pick the nearest green or blue space: a park, a ravine, a shoreline, a tree-lined street if that's what you have.
- Leave your headphones in your pocket for at least part of the time.
- Count it up on Sunday. Close counts.
For the days you can’t get out
Winter, work and weather all get in the way. A soundscape is no substitute for a walk, but natural sound is part of every Brevé session, recorded in places like the ones in this study, for the days when the outdoors has to come to you.
Try next in BrevéCoastline at dusk
