Did you know that spending just 20 minutes in a forest can significantly reduce cortisol (stress hormone) levels?

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Not only that, but being surrounded by trees boosts our immune system (thanks phytoncides) lowers blood pressure, improves mood, accelerates recovery from surgery or illness, increases our energy levels and improves our sleep.

Head of innovation at the Woodland Trust, Stuart Dainton, actually suggests, "All family doctors should point patients towards the nearest woodland where they can absorb nature. They literally make us healthier."

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"Natural environments are linked to enhanced cognitive flexibility and divergent thinking, making people more open to fresh ideas."
Frontiers in Psychology

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Beyond the health and wellbeing benefits there is a growing body of hard science which supports the belief that nature improves creativity and open-minded thinking.

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Our brains are so hard wired to respond to nature that one study discovered that after just 40 seconds of looking out at a green roof, subjects made fewer mistakes in a test than when they looked at a concrete one.

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In another study, participants who spent time hiking in nature performed 50% better on a creative problem solving test compared to a group indoors.

And a review published in Frontiers in Psychology (2019) found that exposure to nature improves cognitive flexibility, "making it easier to shift between ideas and find new connections." 

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According to Attention Restoration Theory, nature actually replenishes our mental energy. The concept of "attention restoration" proposes that gentle, natural environments help our brain's capacity for focused, sustained attention - or directed attention, to rest and recover. Allowing room for more creative thinking.​

 

"Nature is a place where our mind can rest, relax, and let down those threat responses. Therefore, we have resources left over, to be creative, to be imaginative, to problem solve.”

Ruth Ann Atchley, Professor of Cognitive/Clinical Psychology, University of Kansas