{"id":154754,"date":"2022-04-22T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=116538"},"modified":"2024-09-26T12:55:12","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T19:55:12","slug":"this-is-the-optimal-amount-of-time-to-spend-outside-each-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/this-is-the-optimal-amount-of-time-to-spend-outside-each-week","title":{"rendered":"Spending Just 120 Minutes a Week Has Health Benefits, Research Shows"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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We know time outside is good for us: Nature can help <\/span>reduce anxiety<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>promote creativity<\/span><\/a> and contribute to <\/span>heart health<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>Over the past few years, spending time in nature\u2014especially nearby nature<\/a>\u2014is taking on new significance for many folks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research shows that time outside doesn\u2019t have to mean white-knuckling your way down a mountain bike track or scaling a sawtooth peak. In fact, there are plenty of benefits to <\/span>recreating close to home<\/span><\/a>\u2014and the rewards begin accruing at 120 minutes a week, according to a <\/span>2019 study<\/span><\/a> published in <\/span>Scientific Reports<\/span><\/i>. That\u2019s just two hours every week, with peak benefits appearing to max out between 200 and 300 minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better still, the researchers found it didn\u2019t matter how people spent their 120 minutes\u2014the threshold could be met in a single session outdoors or during several shorter ones. Both green spaces in cities and green spaces in less urban places had a positive impact on the 19,000 healthy British adults who participated in the study.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants in the study were encouraged to fill those 120 minutes outdoors however they liked. Some took daily 20-minute walks or went to the park. Others spent the better part of a Saturday hiking. Across the board, participants reported improved overall well-being.

Study author and researcher Dr. Ian Alcock and his co-authors looked at the <\/span>National Environment Survey<\/span><\/a>, analyzing the data in one-hour periods and comparing how people felt after being outside after each additional hour in the outdoors.

Participants were much more likely to report good health and high well-being once they met or surpassed the 120-minute mark. (In fact, those who spent between one and 119 minutes outside per week reported the same amount of well-being as people who spent no time outdoors at all.) Benefits seemed to peak at between three to five hours, with no additional gain from more hours outside. This was true for people of all ages, including older adults and people with long-term health issues.

Alcock says we can\u2019t speculate too much more about the results, though. Researchers still need to look at what this \u201cwell-being\u201d factor means<\/span>.<\/span><\/i> In the future, they hope to use data collection that doesn\u2019t rely on self-report methods, as people\u2019s own assessments of their feelings and behaviors are often less reliable than objective measures.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there are lingering questions: Would these same results show up if the study were conducted in the U.S.? Does the safety of green spaces matter? And do our feelings about spending time outdoors\u2014our nervousness or excitement\u2014impact the benefit we get from those 120 to 300 minutes? All of these questions could be subject to future research. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, we can take this first study as a powerful reason to get outside when we can, even if it\u2019s just to put some plants in the ground, watch the birds from our front stoop or take an evening walk in a quiet corner of the city.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We know time outside is good for us: Nature can help reduce anxiety, promote creativity and contribute to heart health. Over the past few years, spending time in nature\u2014especially nearby nature\u2014is taking on new significance for many folks.\u00a0 Research shows that time outside doesn\u2019t have to mean white-knuckling your way down a mountain bike track […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":158246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[685],"tags":[2147,2278,692],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-154754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-arcteryx-find-your-outer-peace","tag-nature-and-health","tag-news"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/news\/this-is-the-optimal-amount-of-time-to-spend-outside-each-week","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Spending Just 120 Minutes a Week Has Health Benefits, Research Shows","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/this-is-the-optimal-amount-of-time-to-spend-outside-each-week","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/this-is-the-optimal-amount-of-time-to-spend-outside-each-week"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/Hero_120-Mins_Skrobecki_010720_1575-2000x1200-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/Hero_120-Mins_Skrobecki_010720_1575-2000x1200-1.jpg?fit=2000%2C1200"},"articleSection":"News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jessica Bernhard"}],"creator":["Jessica Bernhard"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["arc'teryx find your outer peace","nature and health","news"],"dateCreated":"2022-04-22T21:00:00Z","datePublished":"2022-04-22T21:00:00Z","dateModified":"2024-09-26T19:55:12Z"},"rendered":"