“When I'm smelling pine trees and listening to the sounds of nature, it's magical,” says Erika Jimison, 53, who lives in Gillette, WY, not far from the Black Hills of South Dakota. Since her late thirties, she's had Parkinson's disease and generalized dystonia. Her dystonia causes painful movements that can last for hours. “My muscles start twisting, and I feel like I have a charley horse all over my body.” But even on a “hard day,” waking up in her family's camper to bird songs and the aroma of trees makes her feel better.

Linda Furiate, who developed dystonia 27 years ago after a car crash, always carves out time for nature. At the end of her daily walks, she sits on a park bench overlooking a lake near her home in Columbia, MD. The 62-year-old says “soaking up the environment” leaves her feeling peaceful.

“Being in nature calms us down and improves brain health,” says Peter James, ScD, associate professor of population health at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Living near green spaces is linked with better mental health and longer life. It's also associated with a reduced risk of being hospitalized among older adults with Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open in 2022.

One reason for these benefits is less air pollution, as smog in urban areas is a risk factor not only for heart and lung disease but also for brain disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published in Brain in 2020. Another reason is physical exercise; research shows that people are likely to walk, run, or bike longer outdoors than indoors, says Mathew P. White, PhD, an environmental psychologist at the University of Vienna in Austria.

The third reason is social interaction. People like to spend time in nature with family and friends. Those with disabilities may feel freer as well. “Some people feel judged because of mobility issues, but in natural spaces people don't feel those social eyes on them,” says Dr. White. Furiate says nature lets her escape her reality, if only temporarily—and people are friendlier. “I walk by somebody, and they smile, and I smile back,” she says.

Stress Soother

In a study published in Molecular Psychiatry in 2022, researchers gave 63 healthy people two tests meant to induce stress and then asked them to take a one-hour walk on a city street or in a nearby forest. Participants underwent MRI scans before and after the walk in an urban or nature setting. Stress responses as measured by activity in the amygdala were reduced after the nature walk but not the urban walk, according to lead study author Sonja Sudimac, MS, a postgraduate fellow working in environmental neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany. A University of Michigan study published in Frontiers in Psychology in 2019 found that walking in a natural space for at least 10 minutes a day, three days a week, reduced levels of cortisol, a hormone related to stress. “There are many ways to decrease stress,” Sudimac says, “but going out in nature is easy, affordable, and accessible.”

Kelcie Miller-Anderson, 28, of Calgary, Canada, was diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos syndrome, mast cell activation syndrome (repeated episodes of anaphylaxis symptoms such as hives, low blood pressure, and difficulty breathing), and mitochondrial disease in 2018. The specific mutation for her mitochondrial disease—a condition that interferes with the ability of tiny cells called mitochondria to convert sugar and oxygen into energy, affecting the brain, nerves, and muscles—hasn't been identified yet. The disorder causes her muscle weakness, gastrointestinal problems, frequent migraine attacks, aphasia, vertigo, and numbness. Nature has been her savior, she says. “Whenever I go outside, even just for a drive to the mountains, surrounded by this pristine beauty, I feel so calm and relaxed,” Miller-Anderson says. “At the end of the day, I'm reenergized.”

Pick-Me-Up

For people with anxiety or depression, time in nature may be therapeutic. In a 2023 study in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, Finnish researchers reported that people diagnosed with depression who were prescribed 12 weekly “nature-based sessions” in addition to standard care experienced less psychological distress than a control group that received only standard care.

Being in nature helped Salt Lake City resident Amanda Powell, who's had cerebral palsy since she was a baby. Now 34, she's married and has a 3-year-old. “I was struggling with anxiety and depression, especially after my daughter was born,” she says. Sitting on her porch in the sunshine helped, but once Powell discovered adaptive sports equipment and could explore nearby accessible national parks, a new world opened. “I can be on an adaptive mountain bike, and my daughter rides a Strider balance bike, and we can do these things together,” Powell says. “It's really motivating for me.”

Return to Nature

“Take a short break in your day to get outside,” advises psychologist Colin Ellard, PhD, director of the Urban Realities Lab at the University of Waterloo, Canada. “It's an effective way to look after your mind and body with nothing more strenuous than a walk through a park or woods.” Dr. White has one more tip: “Shut your eyes. Listen, smell, and if appropriate, take off your shoes.”

A study by Dr. White published in Scientific Reports in 2019 found that the benefits—stress reduction and improved mood—accrue after about two hours of nature experiences each week. It doesn't matter if that's one long walk or many shorter ones over the week, Dr. White says. “Being in nature is not just a fun thing,” Dr. James says. “We evolved in nature. We need to bring that back into our everyday lives.”

The first time she visited the Black Hills, Erika Jimison sensed something different. “I felt the energy there, standing in the trees, and it was an almost overwhelming happiness,” she says. “I felt I was home.”

Enjoy the Outdoors Safely

Anyone can experience the benefits of nature, even people with limited mobility. Amanda Powell, 34, of Salt Lake City has cerebral palsy and is on a mission to visit every national park in the country. Her Instagram page provides resources and inspiration for others seeking accessible adventures.

Adaptive recreational sports technology has made her mission much easier. She rents adapted e-bikes from the National Ability Center in Park City, UT, which runs scholarship-supported ski, equestrian, and other programs and rents adaptive equipment ranging from arm-pedal bikes to mouth-tab-released archery stands. “It's a mental change from ‘I can't’ to ‘I can,’” says Tracy Meier, the center's education and program director. “Maybe I can do it differently from the way I have been.” Similar centers exist around the country, including the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago, and Spalding Rehab in Boston. Move United is a national group with chapters all over the country.

“The hardest part of my illness was not being able to ski or fish, activities that had shaped me as a person,” says Kelcie Miller-Anderson, 28, who has mitochondrial disease, a condition that saps her energy, causes pain and migraine, and makes walking difficult. “But over the last few years, finding different tools has allowed me to get back outside.” She has an off-road power wheelchair and uses adaptive equipment to ski.

Miller-Anderson recommends getting an all-access America Is Beautiful pass (which is free if you have a disability) from the National Park Service and searching for wheelchair-friendly hikes on  AllTrails. “People think using a wheelchair is giving up,” she says. “I think it's the opposite—it's brave to say this is what will help me live the life I want to.”