Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/p0RaIAnS2mY Spending 2 or more hours a week outdoors in nature is associated with better health.  This conclusion stems from a study at Britain’s University of Exeter. The investigators studied close to 20,000 men and women, and they surveyed them for time spent in natural environments and their self-reported health status.  The odds of a person reporting excellent, very good, or good general health only begins to significantly increase after 2 to 2.5 hours per week out in nature. An exploration of the data shows that it mattered little if the outdoor exposure occurred close to home or during a day trip to a park.  Exercising while outdoors was not a factor though those doing so seemed to gain psychologic benefits. So get outdoors as much as you possibly can but do push for at least 2 hours in nature. Mathew P. White, Ian Alcock, James Grellier, etal.  Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing.  Scientific Reports 9, Article number: