Can Spending Time in Nature Improve Your Diet?

Contributing to the growing number of studies that show mental and physical benefits of being in nature, a new study from Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions found that individuals who spent more time in nature also reported better dietary behaviors, such as eating more fruits and vegetables. The mixed-method study, recently published in the journal Social Science & Medicine, evaluated individuals' time in nature and their dietary behaviors.

“Our findings are some of the first to show that spending time in nature may promote healthier dietary behaviors,” said Dahlia Stott, PhD, who led the study as a doctoral student in the Department of Health Sciences in the College of Nursing and Health Professions.

Stott and her co-authors are aiming to understand how everyday interactions with nature shape things like diet, movement and well-being.

“This line of research is helping us understand that nature isn’t just a backdrop for healthy behaviors – it's an active ingredient in health,” said study co-author Brandy-Joe Milliron, PhD, an associate professor in the College of Nursing and Health Professions. “We think this can help us design interventions that intentionally harness those connections.”

The researchers surveyed 300 adults across the United States who self-reported their time in nature and dietary habits from the previous week. Researchers looked at three different types of interactions with nature: indirect (viewing nature, but not being in nature), incidental (having nature around you, such as having a house plant) and intentional (going into nature, such as going to a park). They found that incidental and intentional interactions with nature showed a significant association to positive dietary behaviors.

Additionally, 30 survey participants were interviewed virtually to get a deeper understanding of the relationships between nature and diet found in the survey. The 30 participants represented a range of demographics and also a range of high and low dietary scores. During the in-depth interviews, participants were asked rate their preference of being in nature – on a scale from “enjoys nature” to “prefers staying indoors” – as well as explain why they rated themselves that way to connect their relationship to nature with their dietary behaviors.

Stott, now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, explained that participants who spent more incidental and intentional time in nature had better diet quality and had a more sustainable dietary pattern. 

In the interviews, the research team found that mental health and feeling connected to nature were important and that participants stated they wanted to pursue physical health. The participants pursued that goal through spending time in nature and their subsequent dietary behaviors.

Participants reported that being in nature lessened depression, anxiety and stress. Stott explained that this moderated the relationships between being in nature and diet intake, so individuals who reported less depression, anxiety and stress exhibited stronger relationships in interacting with nature and dietary behaviors.

In the interviews, participants talked about how feeling connected to nature prompted them to eat more fruits and vegetables. Stott confirmed these insights with the survey data and found that spending time in nature increased people’s connection to nature, and then connection to nature promoted a better quality and more sustainable diet.

“There's some different mechanisms that are potentially at play here, but if people spend more time in nature, if we as a humanity spend more time in nature, then I think that we'd be healthier overall,” said Stott.Stott added that this is an accessible way for people to improve their overall health.

“This is finding your nearest park, your nearest green space or maybe spending time in your own backyard to promote your health,” said Stott. “And in multiple ways, not just dietary behaviors, because we’re seeing a plethora of other mental and physical health benefits. So, I hope that this study helps to uplift the importance of spending time in nature to improve personal and planetary health.”

In addition to Stott and Milliron, coauthors include Michael Bruneau, Jr., PhD, Jonathan Deutsch, PhD, Rebecca Ippolito, DeAndra Forde and Jennifer Nasser, PhD, from the Department of Health Sciences in Drexel’s College of Nursing and Health Professions and Mara Vitolins, DrPH from Wake Forest School of Medicine.

Read the full study here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953626000894?via%3Dihub.