While I still struggle, nature has been a healing force for my mind
How can nature benefit my mental health?
Doing things like growing food or flowers, exercising outdoors or being around animals can have lots of positive effects. It can:
- Improve your mood
- Reduce feelings of stress or anger
- Help with mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
- Help you take time out and feel more relaxed
- Improve your physical health
- Improve your confidence and self-esteem
- Help you be more active
- Help you meet new people and reduce loneliness
- Connect you to your local community
- Help you feel more connected to nature
- Provide peer support
Wellbeing ideas to try in nature
Read our tips and suggestions for ways to enjoy nature. Many are free, or low cost.
Getting started in nature
It can be hard to know how to connect to nature. Read our tips to get started.
Ecotherapy
Ecotherapy can be a formal type of mental health treatment. Learn more about ecotherapy programmes.
Useful contacts
Find details of organisations that can help you connect with nature.
Going back to my roots - how nature helped me
As I focused on getting the cracks clean of moss, I forgot I was ill, and felt stillness within me, like nothing I’d felt in months
Published: April 2025
Next review planned: April 2028
References and bibliography available on request.
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