This post is the third article in weekly five part series exploring the mental health benefits of hiking, from a scientific and a first-hand perspective. The author has asked to remain anonymous, but if you stay tuned for all five articles, you will be amazed and inspired by the ending.

On the PCT, a friend observed: “people hike this trail either because they are walking away from something or walking toward something – or both.” Many hikers, it seemed, were attracted to the trail in response to deep discontent. For some, it was a devastating loss; or, a life transition; for others, the cumulative effects of long-term stress. What is it about a journey into the wilderness that calls to those facing adversity?

This same drive towards outdoor spaces has been a feature of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we mourn lost family and friends, economic disruptions and job losses, and social isolation mandates, more and more people have found refuge in natural environments. Camping, hiking, and cycling have all become more popular. (1) It may be no coincidence that this trend comes alongside a sudden 400% increase in the number of people experiencing clinical depression and anxiety in the US (2). Both trends have the same origin: adversity. Scientists have long understood that nature helps us recover from stress. It makes sense that people have been flocking to the outdoors in response to a highly stressful, long-term situation.

Stress Reduction Theory

In the 1980s, a scientist named Roger Ulrich developed Stress Reduction Theory (SRT) to explain how nature exposure helps people mentally recover and physically heal from stressful situations. (3) Stress can have a toll on the body. SRT proposes that visiting natural environments after a stressful situation leads to rapid physiological recovery. (4) And this, indeed, seems to be the case. In a famous study, Ulrich noted that hospital patients who had a window – a view of nature – were more likely to successfully and quickly recover from surgery. (5)

Experiments have shown that nature also supports your ability to psychologically rehabilitate after a crisis (6). A large survey study found that people who live near a “high amount of green space” are significantly less affected by stressful life events (7). Even just listening to nature sounds in a laboratory can help you recover more quickly from stress (8).

Perseverance

One of the mechanisms at play here is nature’s ability to bolster a person’s perseverance in the face of frustration. This is why adding parks and tree-lined streets to cities reduces crime rates (9) and why roadside vegetation can reduce road rage. In one study, researchers had participants virtually experience highway drives from the point of view of the driver’s seat. Some participants drove through areas with more greenery lining the roadway; some drove in more barren surroundings. Then, the participants were given unsolvable puzzles. The amount of roadside vegetation did not impact how frustrated the driver felt while tackling the puzzle. It did, however, impact how well they handled their frustration. The greener the roadside, the more time the driver spent persisting in the unsolvable task before giving up. (10)

Such a boost in stress tolerance may be why nature helps people cope with continuous COVID restrictions and lockdowns. According to data taken from 9 different countries: the more severe the lockdown, the more it helps to have nature nearby (11). People who lived near nature during the pandemic enjoyed higher self-esteem, more life satisfaction, and are more likely to describe themselves as “happy.” They are less likely to experience depression, anxiety, or loneliness (12). And when people are socially isolated, being exposed to nature makes them less likely to become depressed from the lack of social connection (13).

Why is this?

Why does nature have this ability to restore us and make us more resilient to stress?

It comes back to evolution. The reason nature is so good for us is also one of the reasons why nature deprivation (city-dwelling) is associated with poorer mental health outcomes. Adversity has been a feature of human life for hundreds of thousands of years. For most of this time, before modern cities existed, humans only experienced stress while immersed in the natural world. A human that was able to draw on their environment as a resource was more likely to survive and pass on their genes. We’ve evolved to benefit from the natural world surrounding us. (14, 15, 16) The urge to retreat to nature, to get out onto a hiking trail, may therefore be rooted in something primal about what it means to be human.

References

• Garth, Gary. “‘Busiest camping season’: Travelers choose outdoor recreation close to home amid COVID-19 pandemic.” USA Today. 6 Sept 2020. [https://bit.ly/3hy0bS5]
• N Panchal, R Kamal, C Cox, R Garfield. “The Implications of COVID-19 for Mental Health and Substance Use.” Kaiser Family Foundation. 10 Feb 2021. [https://bit.ly/2UCdjwA]
• RS Ulrich. “View through a window may influence recovery from surgery.” Science. 224.4647 (1984): 420-421.
• RS Ulrich. “Aesthetic and affective response to natural environment.” Human Behavior and Environment. vol 6 (1983): 85-125. [https://bit.ly/3k7WeoU]
• RS Ulrich. “View through a window may influence recovery from surgery.” Science. 224.4647 (1984): 420-421.
• Ottosson, Johan and Grahn, Patrik. “The role of natural settings in crisis rehabilitation: how does the level of crisis influence the response to experiences of nature with regard to measures of rehabilitation?” Landscape Research. 33.1 (2008): 51-70.
• AE Van den Berg et al. “Green space as a buffer between stressful life events and health.” Social Science & Medicine. 70.8 (2010): 1203-1210.
• JJ Alvarsson, S Weins, & ME Nilsson. “Stress recovery during exposure to nature sound and environmental noise.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 7.3 (2010): 1036-1046.
• “Our Better Nature: How the Great Outdoors Can Improve Your Life.” Shankar Vedantam (host) and Ming Kuo (guest scientist). Hidden Brain Podcast. NPR. 10 Sept 2018 [https://www.npr.org/transcripts/646413667]
• JM Cackowski & JL Nasar (2003). “The Restorative Effects of Roadside Vegetation.” Environment and Behavior. 35(6), 736-751. doi: 10.1177/0013916503256267.
• S Pouso et al. “Contact with blue-green spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown beneficial for mental health.” Science of the Total Environment. 756 (2020): 143984.
• M Soga, MJ Evans, K Tsuchiya, Y Fukano. “A room with a green view: the importance of nearby nature for mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Ecological Society of America: Ecological Applications. 31.2 (2021). [https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2248]
• BDS Cartwright, MP White, & TJ Clitherow. “Nearby Nature ‘Buffers’ the Effect of Low Social Connectedness on Adult Subjective Wellbeing over the Last 7 Days.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 15 (2018): 1238.
• Mechelli, Andrea. “How city living could be making you anxious – and how to deal with it.” World Economic Forum. 4 Feb 2020. [https://bit.ly/3wD0Qpz]
• Kuo, Ming. “Vitamin N.” YouTube, uploaded by TEDx Talks, 17 June 2016. [https://bit.ly/3yNvSNi]
• “Our Better Nature: How the Great Outdoors Can Improve Your Life.” Shankar Vedantam (host) and Ming Kuo (guest scientist). Hidden Brain Podcast. NPR. 10 Sept 2018 [https://www.npr.org/transcripts/646413667]