How even just 15 minutes in nature can boost your wellbeing

The average UK person spends just 7% of their time (or 86 minutes) outdoors during the work week. This is shocking to hear – but with our busy schedules, it’s no wonder many of us can only find a few minutes each day to get outside.

Spending time outside, particularly in nature, is important because it can help regulate stress, boost mental health, and improve immune function.

But the good news is you don’t need to spend hours outdoors each day to see benefits. Even just 15 minutes a day in nature is enough to boost your mood, concentration and physical health.

1. Mood boost

The connection between nature and mood is the most consistent finding across all nature and health studies.

Spending time in nature improves mood by increasing positive feelings such as happiness and optimism, reducing sadness and anxiety and decreasing rumination (fixating on negative thoughts). It also supports social connections by providing an open and neutral space to have meaningful interactions.

Even a one-hour break in nature can create a mental and physical distance from everyday stressors such as emails and to-do lists. It also restores and builds our capacity to handle the day’s challenges.

While one study found it’s most beneficial for your mood to go for a 75-minute walk in secluded woodlands, the research still showed that even walking in somewhat green areas – such as a tree-lined road – can confer mood benefits. This is important for those without access to dense forests near their homes or workplaces, as a short walk in a city park can still have a meaningful impact on mental wellbeing.

2. Better concentration

Taking breaks in nature can also improve cognitive performance.

Numerous lab-based studies have found that people perform better on attention and memory tasks after viewing nature scenery versus when they looked at city scenery. Evidence also shows that simply having access to green spaces can improve working memory and attention span in children. Taking short outdoor breaks during the workday (as little as 10-15 minutes) can improve concentration in people who work in offices, as well.

Even when there aren’t opportunities to visit nature outside of the office, workplaces with more indoor plants have reported better work performance and wellbeing than those who work in an office without plants. This shows even a small presence of nature can be beneficial.

3. Physical health improvements

The benefits of spending time in nature go beyond the mind, as well. Spending time in nature, even for as little as 15 minutes, is shown to improve cardiovascular health in many ways – including by reducing blood pressure and resting heart rate. Workouts done in green spaces may also feel more enjoyable and lower effort – even though you might actually be working harder.

In one study, participants completed an 80-minute rest in nature before returning to the lab to perform a cycling test where they exercised to the point of exhaustion. The study found that the participants who spent time in nature before their test had better endurance performance than to those who had spent time in an urban area before the test.

This means that even if your workout doesn’t happen outdoors, just a short visit to a park or green space prior can have lingering positive effects on exercise performance and physical health.

The great outdoors

It’s all about small, consistent steps – and having fun. The mental health benefits of spending time in nature are robust.

Whether you have your lunch break in a park or choose a greener route to and from work, evidence suggests these small changes can have a positive effect on mood and optimism from the first instance. If these changes then become a habit, this can improve motivation at work and possibly make exercising more enjoyable.

Don’t be shy to try different things, too. Even activities like joining a parkrun event in your local park or getting your hands dirty by building a house plant collection can be help you get a dosage of nature.