Why City Dwellers Really Need to Get Out More
Humans are happier in nature, even in modest doses
It’s mile two of my hike to Glacier Lake. I pass another group of jubilant hikers, laughing, chatting, and heartily waving hello. One group stops, and a young girl encourages me to look for the marmoset sunning on a boulder ahead. Since they are taking a break, I’m offered an energy bar and advice on the best-performing hiking boots.
Every time I visit a national park, I’m reminded that nearly everyone is so oddly cheery that I often feel I’ve entered a Biosphere experiment where not only is organic matter, oxygen, and rainfall meticulously controlled, but so is mood. What about being surrounded by wildness makes us feel so damned renewed and chipper?
“You don’t even have to step outside to reap nature’s benefits,”’ says Roger Ulrich, PhD, professor of architecture at Sweden’s Aalborg University.
Ulrich’s groundbreaking study showed that patients recuperating in hospital beds with a window view of a natural setting required less pain medication had better attitudes, and recovered in fewer days than those without the scene. Ulrich expanded this investigation and studied the effects of nature views in schools, housing projects, businesses, and even prisons, whether through windows or posted images. He found…
