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How nature heals us

Why nature can be used for emotional healing

A 50-minute walk through a park can sharpen your working memory by 20%, even if you hate every frozen minute of it. That’s one of the striking findings from psychologist Marc Berman’s research at the University of Chicago. In this episode of Hidden Brain, host Shankar Vedantam sits down with Berman to explore why the natural world, its curved branches, fractal snowflakes, and rustling leaves, acts as a kind of cognitive reset button. The conversation moves from Jackson Pollock’s barn in Long Island to military veterans surfing in San Diego, from a hospital corridor in Philadelphia to a fake bamboo lobby at a Detroit airport hotel. Along the way, Berman makes a case that nature isn’t a luxury. It’s a cognitive necessity, and one that too many people lack access to.

How nature heals us – Hidden Brain: Podcast episode page with transcript

Insights

  • Ocean waves rest the mind while Times Square exhausts it. Both capture involuntary attention, but nature does so without monopolizing all cognitive resources.
  • Curved edges and fractal geometry in natural scenes make them easier for the brain to process, and people consistently prefer curvy architecture over rectilinear brutalism.
  • Nature walks, surf therapy, and even nature sounds can reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and ADHD. Doctors in the UK and Canada are already prescribing nature walks.
  • Artificial plants, nature soundscapes, nature paintings, and biophilic architecture can deliver some of the same cognitive benefits when real nature isn’t accessible.
  • People consistently underestimate how much they will enjoy a walk in nature before they take one.

Tips and practices

  • Basic comfort and safety are prerequisites for the cognitive benefits. Even nature fails to restore you if you’re getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.
  • Walk in nature for cognitive restoration even if you don’t enjoy it. Berman’s research shows you don’t need to love the walk. Cold, cloudy, or rainy days deliver the same cognitive gains, as long as basic comfort and safety needs are met (wear a coat).
  • Stop treating screen time as rest. Watching sports, scrolling social media, reading news feeds, and surfing the internet feel restful but function as depleting activities because they demand directed attention.
  • Listen to 10 minutes of nature sounds when you can’t get outside. Berman’s lab found that nature audio alone improves performance on directed attention tasks.
  • Bring fake nature indoors. Artificial plants, nature paintings, nature sound machines, and water features all deliver measurable benefits.
  • Choose greener walking routes. Choose paths with more trees and less noise, even if the path is slightly longer than the most direct route.
  • Recognize your forecasting error. People consistently underestimate how much they’ll enjoy a nature walk before taking one. Knowing this bias exists can help you overcome the inertia of staying indoors.
  • Use nature during difficult decisions. Nature walks gives cognitive benefits and support clearer thinking.
  • Look for biophilic architecture. Buildings with curved edges, fractal patterns, and organic intricacy (Gothic cathedrals, Gaudí’s designs) may offer some of the same cognitive benefits as real nature. Seek out these spaces for study or focused work.
  • Give nature micro-doses throughout the day. Brief exposures, a plant on your desk, a glance out a window at a tree, a nature wallpaper on your screen, can provide small directed-attention boosts across a workday.

Research findings and studies

  • Roger Ulrich’s hospital window study: Patients recovering from gallbladder surgery in rooms with modest nature views (trees, shrubs, grass) recovered about one day faster and used less pain medication than patients in rooms facing a brick wall.
  • Berman’s backwards digit span walking study: After a 50-minute nature walk, participants improved their performance on a backwards digit span task by roughly 20% (~1.5 digits). A walk through downtown Ann Arbor produced no improvement. The cognitive gains did not correlate with mood improvement or enjoyment of the walk.
  • Surf therapy for veterans: A six-week surf therapy program reduced PTSD symptoms, depression symptoms, and negative moods among military veterans, while increasing positive moods.
  • Nature and ADHD: Brief interactions with nature (about 20 minutes of walking) produced benefits for children with ADHD comparable to a dose of Ritalin.

Memorable quotes

“You don’t often hear people say, ‘Oh, I can’t look at that beautiful waterfall anymore. It’s just too beautiful. It’s too tiring to look at. I have to stop looking at it.'” — Marc Berman

“When you’re in front of majestic nature… it does sort of make your problems feel a little bit smaller — that we’re part of something larger.” — Marc Berman

“To get these cognitive benefits, you don’t even need to enjoy the nature walk to get the benefit.” — Marc Berman

“The Durham Chapel at Duke is so beautiful that it does the praying for you.” — Candice Vogler, as quoted by Marc Berman

“Brief interactions with nature, like a 20-minute walk in nature, can be as beneficial as a dose of Ritalin.” — Marc Berman, on ADHD research

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