If you don't live near open countryside, try visiting a local park to look for squirrels, fish, insects, ducks and other birds.
Visit a local community or city farm. Use a stargazing website, app or book to help you recognise different stars, or simply enjoy looking at the night sky. For example, berry bushes for garden birds or flowers to help bumblebees. If there's space, you could build a small wooden nesting box on a tree or under a windowsill.
Try birdwatching. Apply to share an allotment, or look for community gardens or food growing projects in your local area. For example, doing things like growing food or flowers, exercising outdoors or being around animals can have lots of positive effects. If you don't have access to a garden, you could plant salad leaves or herbs in a window box or plant pot.
Plant vegetables in your garden. For more information on geocaching see the National Trust website.
It can also be helpful to find out if your local area runs any ecotherapy programmes.
“Hill walking and camping help to keep depression and anxiety at bay for my partner, as does trekking and gentle hill walking for me. For example, in the park or on the beach.
Volunteer for a conservation project. It can be helpful to take your phone with you in case you get lost or need to check your route.
“I use photography as a creative outlet to express myself and support my health. For example, research into ecotherapy (a type of formal treatment which involves doing activities outside in nature) has shown it can help with mild to moderate depression. Take photos or make notes in a diary or on your phone.
Set yourself challenges. And honestly I'm no gardener! An easy way for everyone to connect with outside is to watch the birds. You could use recordings or apps that play birdsong, ocean waves or rainfall.
Watch videos of nature. Use them to decorate your living space or in art projects.
Arrange a comfortable space to sit. Use plants, soil, stones and anything else you'd like to include. It's been been life-changing.”
How getting a dog saved my life
“The daily walking helps me organise my thoughts, and become more aware of my environment.”
Always make sure you consider your personal, living and financial situation carefully before getting a pet. Before eating something you've picked yourself, make sure you know exactly what it is.
“I very much enjoy being part of a community garden. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) website has suggestions on upcycling for nature.
“I started volunteering on Saturdays when I was in a really low frame of mind, and it really helped me recover more quickly. For example, a hedgehog house or a bird box. This might involve counting birds, animals or insects in a particular time and place, or reporting individual sightings of wildlife. You could note your thoughts in a gratitude journal or take pictures.
Try to minimise distractions. There are lots of different organised walking groups. Proudly talking to visitors about the animals and being part of the seasonal cycle of a farm. It helps to keep me calm and physically healthy, and I love taking the time to be mindful of all the beautiful green spaces around me, even when living in a city.”
Nature and mental health problems
Spending time in nature has been found to help with mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. The Carry on Gardening and Thrive websites have information to help you get started.
Grow food together with others. Otherwise just get outside, blow the cobwebs away, breathe deeply. See the Bumblebee Conservation Trust website for more information on bumblebees.
Build an animal habitat. Use them as backgrounds on a mobile phone or computer screen. You don't need any special equipment. Get creative and find a new purpose for your rubbish. You might find you get something completely different from one activity compared to someone else.
Our pages on ideas to try in nature and getting started give lots of tips on how to bring some benefits from nature into your life, whatever your personal situation.
“I've been getting out into nature and walking, either on my own or with dogs, to manage my bipolar disorder for years. And people tell us that getting into nature has helped them with many other types of mental health problems.
“Watching the birds and squirrels always has a calming effect and takes me out of my own head.”
Anxieties about climate change can also have a big impact on our wellbeing. For example, Walking For Health, Ramblers and Black Girls Hike.
Follow a woodland trail. If climate change is affecting your mental health, spending time connecting to nature may be helpful. In recent years volunteering on my local city farm has been the most therapeutic thing I've ever done, besides good talking therapy.”
Jill's story: Ecominds and Wellbeing Comes Naturally
Watch Jill talk about how she has boosted her physical wellbeing and learnt new skills by volunteering at a TCV Green Gym in Regent's Park:
“It is hard to explain the power of nature in relieving both my physical and mental stress. Draw or paint animals or nature scenes, or let them inspire a poem or song lyrics. If you enjoy writing in a journal, try doing this outside.
Eat meals outdoors. It teaches me new skills and techniques. Have a picnic in a local park, or sit in a garden if you have one. Give your eyes time to adjust, as it can take about 20 minutes before you can fully see stars in the dark.
Exercise outside. Visit the seaside and search the shoreline for interesting things.
Try geocaching. See the National Allotment Society, Social Farms & Gardens or your local council's website for more information.
Go fruit picking. Or print them and put them up on your walls.
Listen to natural sounds. For example, you could listen to the sounds around you rather than putting headphones in.
“Crouching in the garden, getting dew and soil on my hands and smelling the lovely, earthy smells is one of the only times I can feel at ease without wanting earphones in to cancel the noise of my busy brain.”
Connect with animals
Watch out for wildlife. It's fantastic to work as part of a larger group, to see positive results in terms of seed and plant growth. See the Social Farms & Gardens website for more information.
Hang a bird feeder outside a window. See the RSPB website for more information on feeding, sheltering and watching birds.
Try pet-sitting or dog walking. It can:
improve your mood
reduce feelings of stress or anger
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 and get to know new people
connect you to your local community
reduce loneliness
help you feel more connected to nature
provide peer support.
“Nurturing something else into life has really helped my wellbeing. Explains how nature can help your mental health. Bliss.”
Grow or pick food
Create a growing space. You could try virtual walks or livestreams of wildlife.
Quick tip: save glass jars and use them to make mini gardens (also known as terrariums). See the Big Garden Birdwatch, Bumblebee Conservation Trust and Big Butterfly Count for examples of nature surveys.
“Being outside, feeding rabbits, talking to the donkeys and looking after sick lambs. See the Forestry Commission England and Natural Resources Wales (Cyfoeth Naturiol) websites to look for woodland near you.
Go beachcombing. Some people like to add seashells, or small toys or figurines.
“I started out by just finding an empty and unused space in the garden outside my window and tending to it.”
Do activities outdoors
Take a walk in green space. Offer to be a pet sitter in your local neighborhood, volunteer to walk dogs for an animal shelter, or ask to borrow a friend's dog for occasional evening or weekend walks.
Take part in a nature survey. You might also find fruit growing in urban spaces, for example wild blackberries.
Learn to find edible plants, known as food foraging. It helps you to be mindful in the moment and rediscover the beauty in your own surroundings. Run or jog through a local park, or do yoga outdoors. Don't worry if some ideas don't feel right for you. For more information see the RSPCA website.
The mindfulness of dogs
Watch Clare talk about how her dog, Watson, reminds her of some important principles of mindfulness:
“It gives you perspective and makes you feel connected with something much bigger than yourself, which I find very comforting.”. The Woodland Trust website has more information on foraging.
Quick tip: if you're going fruit picking or foraging, be aware that not all wild plants are safe to eat. You could try it by yourself, or look for classes in your local area.
Join a local walking or rambling group. Our information on mindfulness and taking a mindful moment in nature have more tips.
Think about what you are grateful for. It can be easy to take nature for granted. I work full-time in an office during the week so doing something so active in such a different environment is a lovely contrast.”
Take notice of nature
Find things you can see, hear, taste, smell or touch. And to harvest and feel part of the natural cycle of life. For example, leaves, flowers, feathers, tree bark or seeds. See if you can find some that do, or adapt one to suit you.
Grow or pick food
Bring nature indoors
Do activities outdoors
Help the environment
Take notice of nature
Connect with animals
“I love watching the garden change. It gives me a regular weekly time to devote to being outdoors, to work alongside people of lots of different ages and nationalities. You could see if a foraging group meets in your local area. The process of observing the outside world breaks the cycle of being caught up with negative internal dialogue.”
Help the environment
Go on a litter picking walk. This might be due to combining regular physical activity and social contact with being outside in nature.
Being outside in natural light can be helpful if you experience seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of depression that affects people during particular seasons or times of year. For example, grass under your feet or the feeling of wind and sunlight.
Keep a record of what you notice. There is little more relaxing than sitting with a cup of tea looking at a hill through a window and hearing the nearby stream trickle away. Like noticing the resilience of a flower growing with determination though a crack in concrete, or capturing the beauty of raindrop patterns. You might be able to help out by volunteering. Geocaching involves looking for items in hidden outdoor locations, using a mobile phone or tablet. For example, you could try to notice three things in nature each day.
Listen to recordings of mindfulness exercises. Getting muddy in all weathers, breathing fresh air. It's incredibly grounding, no matter what my state of mind. You could also get involved with conservation activities or campaigns to protect the environment.
See our information on helping the environment for suggestions, and have a look at The Wildlife Trusts, Groundwork and The Conservation Volunteers websites for more tips and ideas.
“I've had mild to moderate problems with anxiety, depression and OCD all my life. Gives tips and ideas to try, and suggests where to go for more information.
How can nature benefit my mental health?
Spending time in green space or bringing nature into your everyday life can benefit both your mental and physical wellbeing. This might be something you could enjoy doing with other people.
Watch the stars. For suggestions see The Wildlife Trusts, Groundwork and The Conservation Volunteers websites.
Plant helpful seeds. For example, a local park.
Get creative. There's something about the quiet calm of nature that is contagious, leaving a quiet calm in my mind.”
What nature ideas could I try?
This page has some tips and suggestions for enjoying nature. Put out a bird feeder to attract them. Gently caring for something helped me learn to care for myself.”
We all have different experiences of nature, and different reasons for wanting to connect with it more. For example, by a window where you can look out over a view of trees or sky.
Grow plants or flowers on windowsills. To see biodiversity at work.”
Bring nature indoors
Buy flowers or potted plants for your home.
Collect natural materials. Look for local farms or orchards that let you pick fruit to buy. The difference I make when I dig a bed, plant something or even cut the grass. When you are in nature your mind is free of the daily stresses and you can spend your time being in the moment instead.”
Quick tip: if you're going out on your own for longer than you usually would, or walking somewhere you don't know well, plan ahead and remember to keep your safety in mind. See the Royal Horticultural Society website for tips on planting seeds indoors.
Take photos of your favorite places in nature. Or create a pond if you have space.
Try upcycling
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