How Nature Nurtures the Brain
- Lily Carter
- May 26
- 3 min read
Updated: May 29
05.26.25
Hi! My name is Lily Carter, and I believe that spending time in nature and engaging with elements of the natural world are vital to my health and wellbeing—and yours, too! Through this website, I intend to document what I learn about this idea.
The older I get, the more interested I become in understanding WHY spending time outdoors, especially doing activities like gardening, is so important to my health. Over the next few posts, I will be researching the psychological benefits of gardening to investigate the specific ways through which it can reduce stress and anxiety, and improve cognitive function. Yet, these benefits seem relatively obvious. I want to go deeper and I research how repeated exposure to the unique microbiology of garden soil may affect the microbiome of gardeners, and how that, in turn, may affect gardeners’ cognitive health!
First, some basics: it’s well-known that gardening is a great way to get physical exercise as it requires squatting, lunging, carrying heavy bags, and more. Beyond that, my first research question is: “How exactly does gardening positively benefit cognitive health?” Lisa Wimmer, Family Nurse Practitioner at the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences started a garden of her own and shared the mental benefits (“Dig into the benefits of gardening,” Mayo Clinic Health System, Tuesday, July 12, 2022). Just by being in the sun, she argued, both heart rate and muscle tension are reduced, which also leads to reduced stress levels. She highlights how just by getting outside, people tend to breathe deeper.
Other popular sites, such as BetterHealth, regularly post information citing scientific evidence that breathing reduces stress (“Breathing to reduce stress,” Better Health Channel). Until I started reading information like this, I never understood the science behind the easier, deeper breathing I experience while gardening myself. Here are some of the details: the primary muscles that control the movement of the lungs are the diaphragm and the muscles between the ribs. When a person is under stress or anxious, they typically use their shoulders rather than their diaphragm to move air in and out of their lungs, disrupting the balance of gases in the body. Maintaining a more relaxed breathing pattern seems to calm the nervous system that controls the body’s involuntary functions, leading to changes like lowered blood pressure and heart rate, improved immune system functioning, reduced levels of stress hormones in the blood, and more.
Connecting this back to gardening, it appears that, just by being outside, humans tend to breathe deeper, which results in improved overall physiological wellbeing for the reasons listed above. North Western Medicine Center states that an effective routine can help reduce stress (“Health Benefits of Having a Routine,” Northwestern Medicine, HealthBeat, December, 2022). Conversely, Lisa Wimmer sheds light on how adding gardening into the end of her everyday routine is therapeutic and calming, especially after long days.
I can personally verify this—when I get caught up in school work, I forget that just by spending a little time outdoors, I can help ease my stress. Just this weekend, I went on a hike with a couple of friends, and surrounded by trees and the sound of birds, comfort flowed through me. Thoughts of finals or volleyball tryouts were superseded by memories of more meaningful moments and trips that gave me the same comfort as that hike, and the excitement of new memories that I would soon create. Given this experience, combined with what I’m learning about how doubling down on outdoor activities is scientifically proven to enhance my mental health, I am making it my goal to find ways to incorporate nature into my routine, whether it's by working in a garden or just going on a walk.
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