Unpopular opinion: Nature doesn't = happiness

Photo by Lukasz Szmigiel on Unsplash.

We’ve all heard the advice about getting outside more often. Take a walk in the woods. Watch the birds in your yard. Take off your shoes and let the grass tickle your toes. To what end? Being happier, of course!

This ubiquitous advice shows up in everything from TikTok trends (“going on a stupid walk for my stupid mental health”) to medical “green prescriptions” for mental and physical ailments.

For a self-proclaimed “indoor child”

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like me this advice has always been kind of annoying, like the mosquitoes that attack me without mercy, even in my own backyard. Maybe it’s the smug and vaguely superior way this advice gets doled out, as if those who enjoy more time indoors are weak, unhealthy, or just don’t know what they’re missing.

As it turns out, my unpopular opinion just might be fact: a recent meta-analysis of studies about happiness has found that the link between happiness and spending time in nature is weaker than is typically reported.

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Now who feels smug?

Lest I start to seem like some kind of nature-hater, let me assure you: I care deeply about nature. I’m a geographer and I teach with passion about the violence of human impacts on the earth, about environmental injustice, and about other ways of knowing and relating to the non-human world. I’m typing these words from my outdoor patio. I am listening to a bird.

But liking nature and establishing a scientifically rigorous link between being in nature and happiness are two different things. The authors of the meta-analysis, Dunigan Folk and Elizabeth Dunn of the University of British Columbia, found that very few studies addressing the most commonly recommended “happiness hacks” had adequate sample sizes or were pre-registered (meaning their methodology was explained and set out ahead of the study commencing). None of the studies on nature and happiness that they looked at met the standard for a solid scientific conclusion. Exercise and meditation fared pretty badly, too.

So what are we to do with this information? Even an indoor child like me isn’t going to throw out all my bug spray and sunscreen just yet. As Elizabeth Dunn put it in an interview in Science News, there’s not any “snake oil” here, but ideally science should be helping people feel confident about their happiness strategies:

Particularly for people who are working multiple jobs and have a lot of family responsibilities, finding even 20 minutes on a typical Tuesday where they can do something purely for themselves that they think will make them happy [can be hard]. How they use that 20 minutes really matters.

And they should be getting the best scientific guidance you can possibly give them about how to make the most of that scarce resource of time and of energy.

Dunn is pointing to an important problem with the whole “get outside for happiness” guidance, which is that there are barriers to implementing this seemingly simple idea. Time is a big one. Cost may be less of a factor than it is with other activities, but a person might still need to spend money just to get to a green space. Being comfortable outdoors often means having the right clothing and footwear, much of which is expensive.

Spening time outside isn’t without risk, either: insect-borne diseases, skin cancer, allergens, air and water pollution, and extreme heat make going outside more complicated. (Excuse me while I check that my UV-blocking scarf is still high enough on my neck).

Few green spaces, especially those considered truly “natural,” are accessible to people who use mobility aids. Gender and race also affect how comfortable or safe we feel in green spaces; just ask people like birder Christian Carter who was the subject of a racist 911 call while walking in Central Park.

Like most advice, the call to get outside is also heavy with cultural and historical baggage. My resistance to it may be linked to being raised Jewish, and the awareness (and internalization) of stereotypes of Jews as bookish and nonathletic. We never saw Jewish people win the World Series or Olympic medals. More disturbingly, I couldn’t help but be aware that proving Aryan superiority over people like Jews (and many others) was tied to showing physical prowess at sports and in vigorous outdoor activities.

Because of my heritage, I can never disentangle the idea of nature/health/happiness from this history of blatant, genocidal ideology tying outdoorsiness with dominance. This probably makes me overly sensitive to the certainly much more innocent and well-intentioned advice to “go outside, it’ll lift your mood!”

I don’t know whether it’s because we’ve been told that going outside is positively associated with happiness, but there also seems to be an assumption that staying indoors is a sign of depression or other mental illness (like agoraphobia, anxiety, or OCD). In other words, if you spend too much time (an entirely sbjective measure, I might add) inside, people will think there’s something wrong with you.

I’m not suggesting that people who like to hike are secretly Nazis (although I may call you a fascist if you try to take me on one). Still, I can’t help but detect a whiff of self-satisfied virtuosity and general high-horsey-ness lingering in the air beside those who push nature as a happiness drug. But just as there’s nothing inherently evil about wanting to be in nature, there’s nothing inherently virtuous in it, either. Liking the outdoors doesn’t make you a better person than someone who prefers to snuggle under a blanket on the couch. And as this recent bit of research shows, it doesn’t automatically make you a happier person, either.

Putting the science aside (including the thorny question of whether we can actually measure happiness, anyway), people will probably continue to have strong feelings about the effects of being in nature. Perhaps the best thing to take away from the meta-analysis is that it’s always wise to be cautious about recommending happiness fixes. I don’t doubt that nature is a balm for many. Even a couch-snuggler like me appreciates its beauty and the feelings it inspires. However, we might need to be circumspect in doling out the old “go for a walk!” advice.

I’ve learned to embrace my indoor sensibilities. My last online dating profile included the words indoor child with the hope of deterring any potential matches with people who wanted to go camping (shudder). Thankfully, it worked. At least now I can also stop worrying whether I’m denying myself a direct line to happiness by keeping to my cozy house.

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What I’m reading: The Art of Conscious Conversations: Transforming How We Talk, Listen, and Interact, by Chuck Wisner. I’m always interested in learning more about communication. Wisner says that we live our lives in conversation, including with ourselves.

What I’m watching: The 2nd season of The Bear. I generally enjoy this show, but I find it overwhelming at times: there’s a lot of yelling and often the background music is full of screeching guitars. I feel my blood pressure going up and the urge to hit the mute button. BUT I really like Jeremy Allen White and many of the other cast members. I watch it one episode at a time to keep the stress level manageable.

A purchase I feel pleased with: I had to look for (shudder) a pair of hiking pants to bring to Panama; as you now know from reading this post, I am not one of those people who owns specialized outdoorsy clothing. BUT on my way to get a fortifying Starbucks ahead of skulking into Eddie Bauer, I saw them: a perfect pair of what I’ll call hiking-adjacent pants at Aerie. Wide leg but with an optional tie at the ankle. Pockets but not too much. A summer cargo pant, if you will. I’m also realizing that the 90s are back: cargo pants with crop tops are in again. I feel like I’m going to a No Doubt concert in 1993. [I have no affiliation with Aerie, just sharing a find I liked).

1. I’m forever indebted to Daniel Lavery for this piece on Martin Prince (yes, this is a Simpsons-inspired reference!) referring to him as an indoor child. RIP The Toast. IYKYK.

2. Original article: D. Folk and E. Dunn.  A systematic review of the strength of evidence for the most commonly recommended happiness strategies in mainstream media. Nature Human Behaviour. Published online July 20, 2023. doi: 10.1038/s41562-023-01651-4.