Rei Closing to #OptOutside Again on Black Friday While Pledging $1M to Study Benefits of Outdoors

… At the UW, money from REI will help the university build on existing work and explore new ideas. According to a news release, that could include understanding “whether a dose of nature can be prescribed alongside traditional medicine to tackle issues such as anxiety and depression.”

“We know there is a link between time spent in nature and our health and well-being. We are working to close the knowledge gap so we fully understand the benefits,” said Joshua J. Lawler, head of Nature for Health and the Denman Professor of Sustainable Resource Sciences at the UW. “We’ll then work in close partnership with practitioners and decision-makers to use this information to do things like lower healthcare costs, design better schools and hospitals, and reduce disparities in health and well-being.”