2.1.1 Outside and active

Being outside and taking time to notice nature is one step you can take. There’s a growing body of evidence to suggest that spending time in nature has a positive impact on mental wellbeing (Bratman et al., 2019), although most of this evidence is from the Global North. Also, when measuring this impact, it’s difficult to control for other variables. The Nature Connection Handbook (Richardson and Butler, 2022) has further information about the relationship between connecting with nature and wellbeing, pro-environmental behaviour and other outcomes.

Exercising outside may have added benefits. A review of the literature shows how exercise can have a positive impact on mental wellbeing and how the benefits persist after the exercise stops (Pereira, Martins and Barros, 2021).