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Hey there. Welcome to the podcast. I wanna talk today about something that I see over and over again with my coaching clients. I've seen it enough to think that this is a pretty general problem with people in anxiety, that if they just knew a couple of simple facts could make a huge difference in their baseline anxiety levels.
So this is the issue. I find in general that my coaching clients that come to me want to coach about anxiety. One thing that they virtually all have in common with just a very few exceptions, is that they don't spend very much time outside on a regular basis. They don't prioritize it. It's not a regular habit. And it is difficult to convince them sometimes that it would make a difference in their overall anxiety levels. Now, I used to be this way too. There was too much urgent stuff on my to-do list, for me to feel like I should prioritize time being outside. It happened when it happened, but it wasn't a priority. And I wanna clarify that I'm not just talking about being outside anywhere, but it's about being outside in a natural environment, not an urban environment, that this is what really makes a difference in your baseline levels of anxiety.

So let me tell you a little bit about the research behind me making this claim. So there's a theory called the Attention Restoration Theory that was put forth by a couple of scientists back in 1989 when they published a book. Uh, this is Rachel and Stephen Kaplan. And their theory basically is that modern urban life demands a lot of a certain type of attention network called the Directed Attention Network. So this is the network where we focus on one thing while blocking out other things. Right. So this is what allows us to concentrate on our work, to ignore distractions, to solve problems, to regulate emotions, to hold it together under stress. And their, their theory is that modern urban life really taxes this attention network because there's so much in urban life that is mildly threatening that we have to be paying attention to in order to navigate. For example, let's say you wanna cross the street in an urban area. There's a lot of cars. They're going to different speeds. There's stoplights, there's different kinds of vehicles, bikes, buses, motor motorcycles. There's cross streets, cars going by on cross streets. There's some of this information that's not going to be relevant. Like the cars going by on cross streets. That's not gonna directly affect your survival when you cross this street, but maybe one of those cars is gonna have a blinker. They're turning right, and they are gonna be coming on your street. Anyway, there's a lot of, a lot of information that needs to be paid attention to. If you don't know how to focus on it correctly, you might not survive crossing the street. And just as an aside illustration, four people in my family have been hit by cars, buses, trucks, while riding their bikes in urban environments. But just to illustrate how threatening and potentially dangerous a lot of this information is around us in an urban environment. So it requires this, um, directed attention network. So, so the theory of the Kaplans is that modern urban life really taxes this part of our brains, this attention network in our brains because of all this semi threatening information that is around us in an urban environment. And what happens when it gets overtaxed. You could kind of compare it to a, to a muscle that gets overused. You know, it's, it's a type of attention that is mentally effortful. It's tiring over time to engage in it. It's easy to overload and it requires a lot of self-control. It requires energy to engage it. When that system gets exhausted, then you can end up feeling irritable. A lot of mental fog, poor impulse control, not as good at regulating your emotions, increased rumination and anxiety. And this is where it really intersects with the theme of our podcast, which is anxiety management. That when this attention network is tired, you are going to more often default into an anxiety mode where you see the stressors that you're up against as threats.

So their theory is that this attention system's getting overworked and fatigued. We are not restoring it enough. How do we restore it? Well, they emphasize the restorative aspects of being out in nature. So they describe how in nature there is a lot of novelty around us that is not threatening, that feels safe, right? So just like moving water in a brook nearby, all of the sounds involved in that, all of the, the light patterns on the water. Wind in the trees, birds, clouds. This is all these different types of gentle novelty that are absorbing and they engage your attention without effort, but they're not demanding. They don't require effort to pay attention to, and they don't require decision making. And so they hypothesize it because this type of attention just happens, and it's not threatening, and yet it is engaging, they call it soft fascination it, and it doesn't require suppression or control. It allows this directed attention system to rest and replenish and reset.

And so their theory is that if you can spend time in nature to rest this directed attention network, then you will have better, um, executive performance in your brain. That all of these systems that the directed attention is engaged in will work better because they will not be overtired, because they'll be replenished and they'll be rested.

So, as I said, they published this book in 1989. From the 1990s through, you know, 2010 or so, it was this, this theory was tested repeatedly in, in empirical studies. So then starting in about 2010, the studies also began to include neuroscience or neuroimaging in the studies to be able to not just, uh, examine the psychological side of things, but actually, uh, examine the neuroscience side of things. See what was happening in the brain. And it's fascinating that the studies over and over again have confirmed that this hypothesis that the Kaplans came up with is actually accurate.

So for example, there's a really recent study in 2024 talking about how just a 40 minute walk in nature, provided attention restoration on a neural level. They examined a certain in indicator in the brain that is linked to executive control, and they found that in the brain, the, the brains of the people who did a 40 minute nature walk were refreshed and rejuvenated and able to perform better on executive tasks than those who had taken a 40 minute walk in an urban setting. So the people who had taken the 40 minute walk in the natural setting had attention restoration happen. They showed that this, a, directed attention network was restored and renewed on the neural level, whereas those who walked in the urban environment did not show any significant changes in attention restoration. And there have been other studies that study longer immersions, like four day immersions, and they show a similar type of effect that those out in nature who spend that time in a natural environment have renewed directed attention, and thus increased ability to focus and problem solve, versus those who in were in a control in control environment, an urban environment did not have these same effects.

Other studies tested specific executive, um, tasks. Like they would tell the participants to repeat a bunch of numbers forwards or backwards. And those who had spent time in a natural environment just before they were asked to do these executive tasks performed significantly better than those who had been in an urban environment. So again, this is showing this renewal happening in the directed attention because it was rested supposedly in this natural environment where it didn't have to focus hard on threatening information. And what's more, there's another study that maybe has even more direct impact on what we're talking about anxiety here, right? Uh, that showed that, um, participants who went on a nature walk, a 90 minute nature walk, that they had decreased rumination afterwards. What's rumination? Rubin Rumination is that repetitive, self-focused type of thinking that you get stuck in and it just seems to make your emotions amplified, your negative emotions amplified and you don't seem to be able to get out of it. So it's repetitive. It's kind of a loop. It's self-focused. It makes your emotions feel worse, and you aren't really able to solve the problem. You can't stop thinking about the problem, but you can't think through the problem. You can't solve the problem. When your executive functions are working well, then you are better at problem solving. That's part of this focused attention. That's part of what you can do when that is working well. Yeah, but if it's not working well, if it's overtired, then you're gonna default toward more rumination and just getting stuck in these thought patterns and not able to get out of them and not able to solve the problem, and feeling more and more emotionally triggered. So anyway, people who spent a 90 minute walk in a natural setting, they not only reported that they experienced less rumination, but their brain scans the brain, their brains actually showed that the part of the brain which is usually engaged in rumination, was less active after having been out in nature. And this is compared to a control group who was also going out for a 90 minute walk, but it was in an urban setting, so both groups are walking. So we know that walking isn't the key factor here. It's where they were walking, that those who were walking in the urban setting did not have a, a reduction, significant reduction in rumination, and those who were walking in a natural setting did.

So these studies are important when you think about the implications of this because they show exactly what the theory proposed from the Kaplans, which is that if you can go out in nature in a natural setting your mind, your attention, focused attention network gets rested, and then after coming back, then your focus is improved. Your problem solving is improved, your executive functions are improved, and you tend to feel like you can handle stuff better. There's less rumination, and so the less, less anxious type feelings, less depressed type feelings.

I think really the reason why more people don't spend regular time outside in nature is because they don't know how much of a difference it'll make in their baseline wellbeing levels. And as I said, I used to be one of these people. But as I've described many times before, I had a terrible health crisis where I was sick for three years with a disease that had no cure, and I had to manage my symptoms. And so one of the things that I did on this journey of managing my symptoms was learning how to manage my anxiety, because I very quickly noted that when my anxiety was bad, then my symptoms were exacerbated. And so just to keep things manageable, I had to learn to at least manage my anxiety, even though I couldn't totally get rid of my physical symptoms. So I was doing all kinds of research and I discovered lots of different strategies, and one of these strategies that I was looking at was time spent outside. And so I started spending time regularly outside every day. And I have been doing this long enough now, for about five years, to be able to really know and notice the difference that it has made for me. And even now that I'm totally over my health issues that I had for three years and I'm healthy again, I still do this because I do notice a big difference in my baseline anxiety levels for the day, if I spend time outside or if I don't. And I've been able to really notice the difference between, in days when I end up exercising inside versus when I end up exercising outside. So I, I have noticed that when I spend, when I exercise inside, I don't have the same level of feeling like I'm on top of things. I really can feel the difference in my subconscious default brain approach to the day. And so these studies that I cited really make sense to me. These studies showing that it decreases rumination to be outside, it increases your ability to solve problems, it increases your ability to do all the hard focus, attention tasks that require really putting energy into focusing on something, remembering something, repeating things, learning things, making connections. All of these things that we rely on our executive functions for, including emotion regulation, being able to change your emotions when they aren't serving you in your particular situation.

So I wanted to bring this research up for you today, especially right now as we're at the beginning of the new year and people are making goals. They're thinking about different habits that they can in incorporate into their day throughout the the year that can help them to have a better year than last last year. And I just wanna make sure that you know how much difference, just the small little thing of just spending some time outside every day, and not just outside, but in nature every day, can make such a big difference on your ability to function in normal life and feel well. It really comes down to whether or not your brain is gonna be more prone to being in the challenge mindset versus the threat mind mindset. And again, we've talked about this over and over. The threat mindset is where your brain tends to think that your demands and your situation aren't too much for your resources. The challenge mindset is where your brain feels like your resources are up to the demands. If you can just spend some more time in nature every day, then this helps your brain to have the rest that it needs, those attention networks to have the rest that they need, so that they can have the equipment to deal with the challenges that you face. And so you will default toward more challenge appraisals. You will be able to handle your stress better. And I also wanted to bring this up right now because, for all of my listeners in the Northern Hemisphere hemisphere, it is winter right now. It's cold. It's not that nice to go outside, and it's so easy to start getting into a routine where you don't go outside, where you don't exercise outside, where you don't spend time outside because it's unpleasant to go out in the cold. But I want you to know about this research so that you realize the benefits that you can get from just making yourself go out there in nature, in the cold. Bundle up and just take some minutes, set aside time every week, every day if possible, to spend time outside and you will feel the difference in your brain.
I am gonna put a link in the show notes to an interview I did about a year ago with Dr. Christopher Minson at the University of Oregon, where he talks about, uh, an app that he helped develop, which helps people to be able to spend more time in nature, helps them to track how much time they're spending in nature and to set a certain goal and be able to see how they're doing in relation to that goal. It's a really cool app, so I'll put a link in the show notes for that. But I just really wanted you to understand how much this can help you and in, in essence, it's a relatively simple thing, but it can make a really big difference in your default levels of anxiety and your performance overall. Your ability to solve problems, your ability to focus, your ability to have great executive functions, which includes planning, which includes executing your plans. And of course there are other great benefits of being outside, which, we'll, some of which we've talked about before, and some of which we will yet talk about, like being exposed to sunlight and the way that this impacts your energy levels and your brain functioning. But at least I wanted you to be aware of the way that it, it affects your attention networks and your ability to use the executive functioning parts of your brain or your higher thinking powers and how rested they get when you can spend regular time in nature and that allows you to go back and handle all the stuff that you've gotta handle in your regular life.

So besides all the other benefits that you'll find when you go out in nature, look for this one too and try and find a way to incorporate more of it in your day to day routine this year. I'd encourage you to do that. Thanks for listening today, and we'll see you next week.