July 4, 2025 • 7 mins
During the cold and wet winter months, people often spend a lot less time in the great outdoors.
This can be a bit of a problem, as recent research reveals that spending time outside can have quite a few psychological benefits.
Dr Dougal Sutherland joined Jack Tame to delve into the findings.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks that Be Google.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Someone from Umbrella Well Being is here with us this
morning with some really interesting research into the benefits of
getting outside with nature. Doesn't have to be with sloths
and two gardens and in the ocean or anything like that. No,
it can just be somewhere nice and simple. And here's
the thing, it's not physical benefits we're talking about this morning, Google.
There are obvious kinds of physical benefits, but actually a
lot of recent research talks about the mental health benefits
(00:36):
with being connected to nature.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah, cure Jackets.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
It's you sound like you and the family are doing
your your bit to really improve your mental health by
getting out and about I'm.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Improving, I'm improving my wife's necessarily. Yeah, it's a start
this morning.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Yeah, a little bit of trauma perhaps, but you know,
that's that's all right. I could recommend a good psychologist
in the future if you ever need one.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So it was just such an amatur It's such an
amateur move, you know, like, don't put everyone knows that,
you know.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Yeah, but you get so focused on the kids, don't you,
And you know, making sure they're having.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
A good time, that sort of everything else goes out.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Of your head of it, doesn't it, and you end
up doing things. But yeah, look, yeah, absolutely there's I
think for many of us. I mean, there are obvious
benefits to being outside and nature. And often when I
talk to people, you know, people have a semi spiritual connection.
And I don't mean that in any dismissive way at all,
(01:35):
but you know, a semi spiritual connection. Many people work
with nature and talk about that impact for them, which
is great, and obvious physical benefits too.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
You know you're out there.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Walking or running or cycling or trying to swim with
a double wave or whatever it is. But you know,
mental health benefits too, and we know that even just
to getting like two or three hours of sustained time
out in nature really helps reduce stress and.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Improves people sleep.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
And one of the one of the studies around this
was they longitudinal study, because often that's the thing is
you sort of people go out for a short time.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Those are years I feel better.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
And it's like, well, you know, are you just saying that?
But they tracked twenty thousand people who moved who moved
around the country.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
This was in the UK, and they.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Found that those who moved to green spaces or so
off and out into a rural area.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Hadn't improven in their mental health.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
That lasted over two years when they followed them up.
So I think that's you know, that's a really good
sort of indication about how long this benefit can last
for us.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
That's interesting. What do they put it down to, Like,
is it you know, can you work out why it
gives us this benefit? Or is it just one of
those kind of like to me, it's almost like cosmological.
I think that's the right. I think that's right astrological.
I can never well in the in that it's kind
of a it's quite it's quite a grounding and humbling
(03:05):
experience to be with Nate, because you realize, you know,
in a world where we're so focused on ourselves in
our existence and the people in our lives, to be
reminded of your relative insignificance and the kind of you know,
the kind of beauty of the greater space that you've
been brought and born into, I suppose can be quite
(03:26):
a I don't know, it's kind of a I find
it quite a humbling but also strangely nourishing thing.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Yeah, and nourishing I think is a great word a
And I know that I have this even, you know,
when I.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Take the dogs for a walk, which I'm sort of trying.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
To plan on doing today but in welling kind of
as the weather does not look like it's going to
help me doing that. But even just getting out there,
I just just feel a real relaxation. It's just I
can just there's that sense of just relaxing and de stressing. Look,
even when I stand out on our balcony and we've
got this deck that sort of sits across the top
(04:02):
of the trees, you just breathe in and it feels
I don't know if this is true, but feels like
there's extra oxygen floating around.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
And it's just like, ah, just oh, I almost feel.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
That the stress drip away, which is.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
You know, amazing.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
But look, I think the other thing too that a
recent study twenty twenty five study has shown is the
impact And this is fascinating. I found the impact actually
on people's perception of pain. And they found that that
people's experience of pain actually reduces when they are in nature.
(04:38):
And this is they've looked at this in two ways.
They asked people, you know, do you feel more or
less pain? So the great thing about this study was
they were giving people electric shocks, which is classic gold
classic trek and psychology. Shock your participants and see what
they say. Tricky getting ethical approval, but there you go.
So yeah, people said, yes, I rate the pain as
(05:00):
less when I'm looking at a nature of scenic view.
But not only did people say that, they also they
were also scanning their brain at the same time with
an MRI, a functional MRI, and they found that the
strength of the pain signals in the brain was actually reduced,
so suggesting that that that nature has a real, an
(05:23):
actual enalgesic biological effect on us in our brains, which
I just thought was quite an amazing isn't it.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
It's just like, I mean, if.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I was undergoing an amputation or something like that, I
think I'd still go for the harder stuff. But yeah, no,
I mean it does. It does kind of make sense. Yeah,
I mean it kind of strangely intuitively makes sense. Yeah,
it sounds a bit wafky. I know, it does sound
a bit like Lala, but yeah, I know I can
believe it because I mean, if you feel better, like
if you feel better going outside, you feel better, taking
(05:54):
the dog for you feel better, you know, going and
feeling the elements on your face. Then is it crazy
to think that actually you would feel less bad during
a painful experience. I don't think it is.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah, yeah, no, no, I know what you mean.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
There is something intuitively, oh yeah, that makes perfect sense
and nice to but often you know, people can just say, oh, well,
you know, that's just people's perception and that's still real.
I'm not dissing that at all, but noticing that it's
even got an actual reduced pain signal in the brain
I thought.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Was really amazing.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
I think the takeaway is getting out, getting out at
least sort of two to three hours a week if
you can, and doing that.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
In blocks of at least thirty minutes.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
We know that you need to be out there for
at least about thirty minutes to really get that hit,
So five minutes around the block at lunchtime it is okay,
there's nothing wrong with that, but you're not going to
get the full benefit.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Of being out in nature. So trying to and.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
I know that's not easy for everybody. If you're living
in an urban area, but trying to get out at
least two or three hours a week if possible, and
at least in thirty minute chunks if that's doable for you.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Nice, that's such good advice. I thanks so much, Google,
I appreciate your time as always, Google. Sublan from Umbrella
Well Being with us this morning.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks d B from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks that Be Google.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Someone from Umbrella Well Being is here with us this
morning with some really interesting research into the benefits of
getting outside with nature. Doesn't have to be with sloths
and two gardens and in the ocean or anything like that. No,
it can just be somewhere nice and simple. And here's
the thing, it's not physical benefits we're talking about this morning, Google.
There are obvious kinds of physical benefits, but actually a
lot of recent research talks about the mental health benefits
(00:36):
with being connected to nature.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah, cure Jackets.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
It's you sound like you and the family are doing
your your bit to really improve your mental health by
getting out and about I'm.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Improving, I'm improving my wife's necessarily. Yeah, it's a start
this morning.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Yeah, a little bit of trauma perhaps, but you know,
that's that's all right. I could recommend a good psychologist
in the future if you ever need one.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So it was just such an amatur It's such an
amateur move, you know, like, don't put everyone knows that,
you know.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Yeah, but you get so focused on the kids, don't you,
And you know, making sure they're having.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
A good time, that sort of everything else goes out.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Of your head of it, doesn't it, and you end
up doing things. But yeah, look, yeah, absolutely there's I
think for many of us. I mean, there are obvious
benefits to being outside and nature. And often when I
talk to people, you know, people have a semi spiritual connection.
And I don't mean that in any dismissive way at all,
(01:35):
but you know, a semi spiritual connection. Many people work
with nature and talk about that impact for them, which
is great, and obvious physical benefits too.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
You know you're out there.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Walking or running or cycling or trying to swim with
a double wave or whatever it is. But you know,
mental health benefits too, and we know that even just
to getting like two or three hours of sustained time
out in nature really helps reduce stress and.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Improves people sleep.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
And one of the one of the studies around this
was they longitudinal study, because often that's the thing is
you sort of people go out for a short time.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Those are years I feel better.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
And it's like, well, you know, are you just saying that?
But they tracked twenty thousand people who moved who moved
around the country.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
This was in the UK, and they.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Found that those who moved to green spaces or so
off and out into a rural area.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Hadn't improven in their mental health.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
That lasted over two years when they followed them up.
So I think that's you know, that's a really good
sort of indication about how long this benefit can last
for us.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
That's interesting. What do they put it down to, Like,
is it you know, can you work out why it
gives us this benefit? Or is it just one of
those kind of like to me, it's almost like cosmological.
I think that's the right. I think that's right astrological.
I can never well in the in that it's kind
of a it's quite it's quite a grounding and humbling
(03:05):
experience to be with Nate, because you realize, you know,
in a world where we're so focused on ourselves in
our existence and the people in our lives, to be
reminded of your relative insignificance and the kind of you know,
the kind of beauty of the greater space that you've
been brought and born into, I suppose can be quite
(03:26):
a I don't know, it's kind of a I find
it quite a humbling but also strangely nourishing thing.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Yeah, and nourishing I think is a great word a
And I know that I have this even, you know,
when I.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Take the dogs for a walk, which I'm sort of trying.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
To plan on doing today but in welling kind of
as the weather does not look like it's going to
help me doing that. But even just getting out there,
I just just feel a real relaxation. It's just I
can just there's that sense of just relaxing and de stressing. Look,
even when I stand out on our balcony and we've
got this deck that sort of sits across the top
(04:02):
of the trees, you just breathe in and it feels
I don't know if this is true, but feels like
there's extra oxygen floating around.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
And it's just like, ah, just oh, I almost feel.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
That the stress drip away, which is.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
You know, amazing.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
But look, I think the other thing too that a
recent study twenty twenty five study has shown is the
impact And this is fascinating. I found the impact actually
on people's perception of pain. And they found that that
people's experience of pain actually reduces when they are in nature.
(04:38):
And this is they've looked at this in two ways.
They asked people, you know, do you feel more or
less pain? So the great thing about this study was
they were giving people electric shocks, which is classic gold
classic trek and psychology. Shock your participants and see what
they say. Tricky getting ethical approval, but there you go.
So yeah, people said, yes, I rate the pain as
(05:00):
less when I'm looking at a nature of scenic view.
But not only did people say that, they also they
were also scanning their brain at the same time with
an MRI, a functional MRI, and they found that the
strength of the pain signals in the brain was actually reduced,
so suggesting that that that nature has a real, an
(05:23):
actual enalgesic biological effect on us in our brains, which
I just thought was quite an amazing isn't it.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
It's just like, I mean, if.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I was undergoing an amputation or something like that, I
think I'd still go for the harder stuff. But yeah, no,
I mean it does. It does kind of make sense. Yeah,
I mean it kind of strangely intuitively makes sense. Yeah,
it sounds a bit wafky. I know, it does sound
a bit like Lala, but yeah, I know I can
believe it because I mean, if you feel better, like
if you feel better going outside, you feel better, taking
(05:54):
the dog for you feel better, you know, going and
feeling the elements on your face. Then is it crazy
to think that actually you would feel less bad during
a painful experience. I don't think it is.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah, yeah, no, no, I know what you mean.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
There is something intuitively, oh yeah, that makes perfect sense
and nice to but often you know, people can just say, oh, well,
you know, that's just people's perception and that's still real.
I'm not dissing that at all, but noticing that it's
even got an actual reduced pain signal in the brain
I thought.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Was really amazing.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
I think the takeaway is getting out, getting out at
least sort of two to three hours a week if
you can, and doing that.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
In blocks of at least thirty minutes.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
We know that you need to be out there for
at least about thirty minutes to really get that hit,
So five minutes around the block at lunchtime it is okay,
there's nothing wrong with that, but you're not going to
get the full benefit.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Of being out in nature. So trying to and.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
I know that's not easy for everybody. If you're living
in an urban area, but trying to get out at
least two or three hours a week if possible, and
at least in thirty minute chunks if that's doable for you.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Nice, that's such good advice. I thanks so much, Google,
I appreciate your time as always, Google. Sublan from Umbrella
Well Being with us this morning.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks d B from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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