Member-only story
New Study: A 15-Minute ‘Awe Walk’ Kills Stress and Loneliness and Boosts Happiness
Everyone knows exercise improves your mood and your health. You may have also heard that exercising in nature has even greater benefits, such as reducing stress and working to help keep your brain young.
But new research suggests adding a third element to the cocktail of physical activity plus the great outdoors leads to an even greater payoff. And handily for the time-strapped, you need only 15 minutes a week to see these benefits.
What’s this secret ingredient for the ultimate health boost? Awe.
Just 15 minutes a week can boost your mental health.
Awe is the feeling of smallness and wonder you experience when you stand before something vastly bigger than you. It’s what astronauts feel when they look down at Earth from space or the rest of us feel looking up at the countless stars in the night sky. A significant body of psychology research shows awe helps us feel less anxious, more connected, and generally happier.
But while awe is great for our mental health, it’s also easy to lose touch with the feeling in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. A recent study led by Virginia Strum of the University of California, San Francisco set out to test a dead simple…
