Why You Literally Need to Touch Grass
4/20/202633 min
In a previous episode on leisure, I talked about how fewer and fewer people are spending time outdoors. Today, the average child spends just minutes outside each day, a dramatic shift from how most of us grew up and from how humans have lived for thousands of years.
In today’s episode of Office Hours, I explain why reconnecting with nature is essential for your happiness and well-being. Drawing on research from psychology and neuroscience, I show how time outdoors can reduce anxiety and depression, improve cognitive function, and even help you break free from the constant cycle of comparison and rumination.
You might think your life is not compatible with spending more time outside. But the evidence suggests the opposite: you can’t afford not to. I share with you three practical ways to bring nature back into your daily life. I hope you try them and get outside to touch some grass!
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Where to find Arthur Brooks:
• Website: https://arthurbrooks.com/
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• Email: officehours@arthurbrooks.com
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(05:14) How much time do people spend outdoors today?
(07:10) Why we’re spending more time inside
(11:05) What happens when you don’t get enough time outdoors
(12:31) What happens when you add nature back in
(19:08) #1: Spend as much time as you can outside
(22:04) #2: Witness/touch nature
(24:27) #3: Start a walking routine
(26:36) Why you’ll enjoy being in nature more than you think
(27:23) Lessons from transcendentalism
(28:46) Q&A: The difference between happiness and joy
(30:24) Q&A: Serving others without resentment
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Referenced:
• The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness: themeaningofyourlife.com
• Meaning Membership: https://hub.arthurbrooks.com/the-meaning-membership
• Arthur’s newsletter: https://www.arthurbrooks.com/newsletter
• The Happiness Scale: https://learn.arthurbrooks.com/the-happiness-scale
• The Pursuit of Happiness with Arthur Brooks: https://www.thefp.com/s/the-pursuit-of-happiness-with-arthur
• Global survey finds we’re lacking fresh air and natural light, as we spend less time in nature: https://press.velux.com/new-global-survey-finds-were-lacking-fresh-air-and-natural-light-as-we-spend-less-time-in-nature
• The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness: https://www.amazon.com/Anxious-Generation-Rewiring-Childhood-Epidemic/dp/0593655036
• Stanford researchers find mental health prescription: Nature: https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2015/06/hiking-mental-health-063015
• Why Is Nature Beneficial? The Role of Connectedness to Nature: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d8921893ec7066969f68df5/t/5d94da7035bc6f4984f509d1/1570036337561/the_role_of_connectedness_to_nature_on_positive_affect_2009.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com
• ...References continued at: https://www.arthurbrooks.com/office-hours
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsArthur Brooks· Host0:00
My students have an expression, my kids have an expression, anybody who's under 30 knows this, and most people over 30 as well, that when, you know, you're behind the computer screen all day and maybe getting wrapped up into some stupid conversation on social media, and you're losing touch with reality, you're, you're getting sucked into the matrix, into the simulation of life, that you gotta turn it off and go touch grass. The average child today sp- spends between four and seven minutes a day outside. By the way, also more than four to seven hours online. This is a, an evolutionary argument. [laughs] You know, our brains are the same thing that they were about 250,000 years ago in the late Pleistocene, sitting around the campfire outside, talking to each other while we shove pieces of yak meat into our mouths or whatever it is. That's how our brains were made, to understand each other, to find meaning in our lives, and when we deviate from that too much, well, we're gonna suffer. [upbeat music] Hey, friends. Welcome to Office Hours. I'm Arthur Brooks. This is a show dedicated to lifting people up and bringing them together in bonds of happiness and love using science and ideas. This is how I do my work, is getting these ideas out, the, the deepest ideas in the research on social sciences, on neuroscience, on all different areas that can actually help us understand human flourishing. And, and m- my job is to bring those ideas to you, whether you have a background in science or