It is perhaps unsurprising that mounting research finds regular contact with nature has important mental health benefits. Given that people have been intricately linked to the Earth for most of human history, it might even be considered presumptuous to think that our modern urban lifestyles, which effectively cut us off from nature, can be anything other than unhealthy.

Spending time in nature has been associated with greater emotional well-being, happiness, and improved life satisfaction. Nature therapy, also called ecotherapy, is a broad approach to mental health that includes being in nature to improve well-being. Let’s take a look at a few important avenues for improved mental health and how these work.

Natural environments have been shown to boost mental health and lower stress hormone levels (Antonelli et al., 2019). Simply visiting a forest, looking at the trees, and breathing its air has been shown to have positive effects on the human body. Research conducted in East Asia (Japan, China, South Korea) and Europe (Germany, Iceland, Finland, Spain) shows that “forest bathing” reduces stress, and these effects last from a week to over a month. Further, visiting a forest can benefit immune function in several ways, including by increasing the number and activity of natural killer cells, and this effect can last for more than a month.

Many people avoid sun exposure due to the risk of skin cancer, but natural sunlight is........

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