Biodiversity Is Nature’s ‘Magic’ That Improves People’s Mental Health

Time spent in natural spaces with more biodiversity is associated with greater improvements in mental well-being than time spent in spaces with less natural diversity

© by GrrlScientist for Forbes | LinkTr.ee

Reflection of Nature. (Credit: Faye Mozingo / CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED)

A newly published study finds that spending time in natural spaces that have more biodiversity is associated with greater improvements in our mental well-being than spending time in spaces with less natural diversity.

I’ve shared similar research findings with you before. Not long ago, for example, I shared that lower-income people benefit more from engaging with nature than do higher-income people (more here). That study focused on income levels and the sorts of nature-based activities, like birding, that people might pursue.

But this new study asks more detailed questions about natural spaces: what is it about natural spaces that benefits people as they go about their daily lives? This new study reports that a larger number and diversity of natural features — trees, birds, plants, and waterways — was the healing ‘magic’ associated with greater mental well-being, and further, this study also found that these benefits can last as long as eight hours.