Nature vs Urban Exercise: What the Research Shows About Mental Health

Most people know that exercise is good for mental health. That conversation is well established. But a growing body of research is asking a more specific question: Does it matter where you exercise?

A 2022 systematic review and meta-analysis published in Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being set out to answer exactly that. Researchers analysed 24 experimental studies comparing the psychological effects of physical activity in natural environments, forests, parks, woodlands, and grasslands, versus outdoor urban environments, city streets, commercial districts, and residential areas. Across nearly 1,800 participants, the findings consistently pointed in one direction.

Exercising in nature is measurably better for mental health than exercising in a city. And the differences in some outcomes are substantial.

What the Research Found

The review conducted both narrative synthesis across all 24 studies and meta-analysis on nine of them, examining six psychological outcomes: anxiety, depression, anger and hostility, fatigue, vigour, and positive affect.

Every single meta-analysis favoured the natural environment. The effect sizes varied by outcome, but the direction was consistent across the research.

The largest effects were seen for anxiety, fatigue, and vigour. For anxiety specifically, the effect size was very large. Exercising in nature produced significantly greater reductions in fatigue and increases in vigour compared with urban exercise. Moderate effects were found for anger and positive affect. A smaller but still statistically significant effect was found for depression.

Is exercising in nature better for mental health than exercising in a city?

Yes, based on this meta-analysis. Across 24 experimental studies and nearly 1,800 participants, physical activity in natural environments consistently produced better psychological outcomes than the same activity in urban environments. The strongest effects were found for anxiety, fatigue, and vigour. Effects for depression were smaller but still statistically significant in favour of nature.

Does the environment where you exercise affect anxiety?

Significantly. Eleven of sixteen studies reported statistically significant reductions in anxiety following physical activity in a natural environment compared with an urban one. The meta-analysis showed a very large effect size in favour of nature for anxiety reduction. The researchers suggest that natural environments may offer respite from anxiety by providing a physical and mental space free from everyday stressors, something busy urban environments cannot replicate.

Why Does Nature Reduce Anxiety and Improve Mental Health? The Mechanisms

The review draws on two well-established theoretical frameworks to explain why natural environments amplify the mental health benefits of exercise.

1. Psycho-Evolutionary Theory

This theory proposes that humans are innately drawn to natural environments because they historically offered safety and resources for survival. Being in such environments is associated with increased positive affect and reduced negative emotional states. The response is rapid and may be pre-cognitive, meaning the nervous system begins to shift before conscious awareness catches up. This helps explain why even short exposures to natural environments, as brief as 15 minutes, produced some of the largest effect sizes in this review.

2. Attention Restoration Theory

Modern environments, particularly urban ones, demand constant directed attention. We focus, filter, navigate, and maintain alertness continuously, which depletes cognitive and emotional resources over time and results in mental fatigue. Natural environments require effortless or involuntary attention. Looking at trees, water, open space, or varied natural terrain does not tax the directed attention system. It allows it to recover. This is why the research found particularly large effects for fatigue and vigour: nature is not just a backdrop for exercise, it is itself restorative.

Why does being in nature reduce stress and mental fatigue?

Two well-supported theories explain the mechanism. Psycho-evolutionary theory proposes that humans respond to natural environments with reduced stress and increased positive emotion because these environments historically signalled safety. Attention restoration theory explains that urban environments deplete directed attention through constant cognitive demand, whereas natural environments allow that system to recover through effortless engagement with varied, non-threatening stimuli. Exercise in nature combines the physiological benefits of movement with the restorative effects of the natural environment simultaneously.

What About Depression? A More Nuanced Picture

While the results for anxiety were consistently strong, the findings for depression were more complex. Four of twelve studies reported significant decreases in depression in favour of the natural environment. The meta-analysis found a small but statistically significant effect in favour of nature.

The researchers offer an important observation here. Depression may respond differently to environmental context than anxiety does. Natural environments may provide relief from anxiety precisely because they offer quiet, low-stimulation, restorative space. But for depression, which is often associated with low energy, isolation, and rumination, that same quiet space might not always be what is needed. Urban environments, with their social activity and stimulation, may in some cases offer more engagement for someone experiencing depressive symptoms.

This does not undermine the value of exercise in nature for depression. It simply suggests that the relationship is more nuanced, and that duration, social context, and the specific features of the environment may all play a role in how much benefit is experienced.

Does exercising in nature help with depression?

The research shows a small but statistically significant benefit of exercising in natural versus urban environments for depression. The effect is smaller than that seen for anxiety, fatigue, or vigour, and findings across individual studies were mixed. The researchers suggest depression may respond differently to environmental context than anxiety, and that social context and duration of exercise in nature may be important moderating factors. Exercising in nature with others, or over longer periods, may produce greater benefits for depressive symptoms than solitary short walks.

Duration, Social Context, and How You Exercise in Nature

One of the more interesting findings in this review is what the narrative synthesis revealed about potential moderators of effect.

For anxiety, shorter durations of exercise in nature, specifically 15-minute walks, were associated with larger effect sizes than longer durations of 50 minutes. This is consistent with the idea that the initial response to natural environments may be rapid and pre-cognitive. The first minutes in a natural setting appear to generate the most significant psychological shift.

Social context also emerged as a potential moderator. Studies where participants exercised in the presence of others showed larger effect sizes for positive affect than those where participants exercised alone. For depression specifically, being physically active in nature with others may offer meaningful additional benefit compared with solitary exercise in nature, which in some cases may increase feelings of loneliness or provide more opportunity for rumination.

How long do you need to exercise in nature to feel the mental health benefits?

The research suggests that even 15 minutes of walking in a natural environment can produce large reductions in anxiety and fatigue. Some of the largest effect sizes in this review came from the shortest durations. That said, cumulative and longer-term effects of repeated exercise in nature on depression and other outcomes are not yet well understood, as the current evidence is based primarily on single bouts of activity.

What This Means for Mental Health Treatment and Integration

The implications of this research extend beyond general wellness. For people managing depression, anxiety, PTSD, or other mental health conditions, the environment in which they engage in physical activity may be a meaningful variable worth considering, not just whether they exercise, but where.

This connects directly to the integration phase of ketamine-assisted therapy. Ketamine temporarily increases neuroplasticity, opening a window during which the brain is more capable of reorganising rigid emotional and cognitive patterns. During this window, lifestyle practices matter. Movement supports neuroplasticity through BDNF production and autonomic regulation. And this research suggests that movement in natural environments may deliver an additional layer of psychological benefit beyond what urban exercise can provide.

The restorative effects of natural environments on directed attention fatigue are particularly relevant during integration. Rumination, cognitive depletion, and emotional reactivity are common in the early integration period. Exercise in nature may help address all three simultaneously: through the movement itself, through the attentional restoration that natural environments provide, and through the autonomic shift that both exercise and nature exposure appear to support.

Can exercise in nature support ketamine-assisted therapy integration?

The mechanisms suggest yes. Ketamine-assisted therapy opens a neuroplasticity window during which the brain is more capable of reorganising patterns of thought and emotion. Physical activity supports this through BDNF production and autonomic regulation. Natural environments add an additional layer by restoring directed attention, reducing anxiety, and reducing the stress response. For clients in the integration phase, intentional movement in natural settings may support the nervous system conditions that help new patterns consolidate.

Why is nature better for mental health than an urban environment?

Natural environments reduce anxiety and mental fatigue through two complementary mechanisms. They trigger an innate stress recovery response rooted in evolutionary safety associations, and they restore the directed attention system that urban environments continuously deplete. When exercise is added to these effects, the result is a compounded benefit that urban exercise alone cannot replicate.

The Bottom Line

Where you exercise is not a trivial question. This research makes clear that the environment in which physical activity takes place has a meaningful and measurable impact on psychological outcomes, particularly for anxiety, fatigue, and vigour, and to a lesser extent for depression and positive affect.

Natural environments are not simply a more pleasant backdrop. They are themselves therapeutic. They engage the nervous system differently, restore depleted attentional resources, and appear to amplify the mental health benefits of movement in ways that urban environments cannot match.

For anyone managing mental health challenges, this research adds another layer of evidence for intentional choices about where, not just how, you engage in physical activity. And for those in treatment, including ketamine-assisted therapy, the integration period is precisely the time when those choices are most likely to matter.

If you are curious about what whole-person care looks like at Perspective Wellness in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, including ketamine-assisted therapy and the integration support that surrounds it, your first consultation is free. We work with clients across Wisconsin and welcome referrals from therapists throughout the area!

perspectivewellness.org | (414) 367-6649

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