Nature Buoy

ASHLEY ABRAMSON · Windsor News · July 29, 2026

Featuring Gregory Bratman, Center co-director

Spend­ing time in or near nature has many poten­tial bene­fits. A 2021 review found that being in nature (espe­cially while enga­ging in phys­ical activ­ity) is linked to improved car­di­ovas­cu­lar health, lower blood pres­sure and reduced risk factors for chronic dis­eases like Type 2 diabetes.

A grow­ing body of research sug­gests nature is asso­ci­ated with reduced feel­ings of stress, anxi­ety and sad­ness, plus an increased sense of pur­pose and over­all well-being, accord­ing to Gregory Brat­man, an asso­ciate pro­fessor of envir­on­mental and forest sci­ences at the University of Wash­ing­ton. “A lot of pro­gress has been made recently in poten­tial mech­an­isms that help explain those out­comes,” Brat­man said.

In the new study, the research­ers looked at sur­vey data from 50,363 par­ti­cipants in 58 coun­tries and found nature con­tact to be asso­ci­ated with greater body appre­ci­ation via two poten­tial path­ways: increases in self-com­pas­sion and per­ceived res­tor­a­tion.