At a time when more than half the world’s population lives in cities and people spend about 90 percent of their lives indoors, our relationship with the natural world has never been more distant or more essential to restore. Mounting evidence shows that even brief moments in nature can sharpen focus, lift mood, and protect the brain.
Few scientists have done more to uncover why than Marc Berman, Chair of Psychology and director of the Environmental Neuroscience Lab at the University of Chicago. In his new book, Nature and the Mind, Berman draws on years of experimental research to explain how green spaces nurture attention, creativity and mental health and why access to them is a matter of equity and necessity, not luxury.
I spoke with Berman about what happens to our brains when we step outside, how much nature we really need, and what a “Nature Revolution” might look like in our daily lives.
Please select this link to read the complete article from Psychology Today.