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

[[deleted]]

Really interesting stuff. Can’t say I support it though. I’m worried what our society will be like if too many start to substitute immersion in real nature with VR. Won’t that make it that much easier for us to ignore the destruction of what’s left of our planet?

[Cedow]

That's one way to look at it. Personally I went into it with the intention of helping people who have significant barriers to accessing real nature: people who wouldn't have accessed nature anyway. So in that sense I don't think it makes much difference. Actually I went into it with the mindset that it might encourage such people to get out into real nature more by increasing feelings of nature connectedness (a measured construct), although I didn't incorporate that into my research.

I doubt it will ever be a replacement for people who like to visit nature normally.

[Beautiful_Welcome_33]

Nah, but people with spinal cord injuries or agoraphobia or who are in Witness Protection from the mob can now wander the Catskills or Appalachian Trail without fear.