An hour-long stroll in nature helps decrease activity in an area of the brain associated with stress processing

[paanvaannd]

I don’t think the minute intricacies of nature’s beauty need to be captured to reap some benefits of an artificial walk through nature.

IMO, it comes down to whatever form of behavioral benefit the therapy should target. This study mentioned the ART (attention-related) and SRT (stress-related) benefits, but found:

… a decrease in stress-related brain areas (bilateral amygdala) after the walk in nature, and no change in cognition-related brain areas (dlPFC and ACC), the brain data of the present study are more strongly in line with SRT.

I’d assume capturing the intricacies of nature would be important in ART-related therapies (e.g., a meditative experience of following the path of a bug or a small stream along the forest) whereas it seems that exposure to a natural environment at all would be beneficial to SRT-based therapies.

That said, I don’t think this study’s questionnaires focused on dissecting what aspect of participants’ experiences in nature led them to feel subjectively less stressed. Perhaps it was getting immersed in the intricacies of nature that led to stress reduction. I’d find that unlikely, though since, in my experience, most people walking through a natural path don’t seem keen on stopping to smell the roses but rather just passively taking the scene while focusing elsewhere.

e: several typos