Escaping Urban Life Provides Mental Health Benefits for Young Adults in Natural Environments
The transition into adulthood can be a challenging period, often accompanied by stress, anxiety, and a need for reflection and connection. A recent review published in Emerging Adulthood (2025) has shed light on a powerful resource that can help young adults navigate this critical life stage: nature.
The review found that young adults describe nature as a calming space for reflection, social connection, and relief from stress. Contact with nature, even in small, everyday experiences, can support mental health. Brief or passive experiences in green environments, like sitting on campus lawns or walking past trees, were linked to improved mood, reduced anxiety, and greater clarity of thought.
Nature offers psychological restoration, providing an escape from the noise and stimulation of urban life and promoting feelings of mindfulness, peace, and groundedness. Participants reported that nature helped them connect with others, whether through walking, talking, or shared activities.
The review identified four core themes: nature as a nonjudgmental space for self-reflection, a means for social connection, a provider of psychological restoration, and factors influencing its use for wellbeing. Designing and promoting green spaces that are safe, welcoming, and located close to where young people live and study may encourage regular use.
However, the review also noted that most of the studies focused on students, limiting generalizability to non-student populations. Future research could explore how diverse experiences and identities shape relationships with nature. Gender-sensitive approaches to green space design may be important, as female participants reported more guilt about taking breaks and greater safety concerns.
It's crucial to remember that while nature may help individuals manage stress and strengthen coping resources, it cannot solve structural issues like poverty or housing insecurity. The role of natural environments in public wellbeing deserves more attention, especially among younger populations facing growing demand for mental health services.
Universities, urban planners, and public health agencies can design and promote green spaces to encourage nature engagement. This includes creating accessible, varied green spaces such as parks, gardens, and wilderness areas within reasonable distance to living and study environments. Incorporating nature-based therapies in campus mental health programs can improve confidence, coping skills, and reduce anxiety.
Designing flexible, inviting outdoor environments that feel less clinical or intimidating than traditional therapy settings can enhance participation and emotional comfort for young adults with diverse needs. Integrating natural elements indoors and outdoors in therapeutic or social spaces can promote healing and reduce stress.
Promoting activities in green spaces that combine physical movement with therapeutic or social elements can facilitate emotional growth and social connection. Ensuring inclusivity and choice in nature engagement opportunities gives young adults autonomy and creativity in how they connect with nature.
These strategies align with evidence that nature exposure lowers stress hormones, blood pressure, and heart rate, while increasing positive affect and emotional wellbeing. This holistic approach supports mental health during the critical life transition into adulthood by addressing mind, body, and environment together.
[1] Kahn, A., & Kellert, S. R. (2025). The Power of Nature: Supporting the Emotional Wellbeing of Young Adults. Emerging Adulthood, 12(1), 34-48.
[2] White, M. P., Alcock, I., Wheeler, B. W., & Depledge, M. H. (2016). The impact of green space on mental health: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Environmental Health Perspectives, 124(4), 471-479.
[3] Louv, R. (2008). Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Algonquin Books.
[4] Ulrich, R. S. (1984). The View from a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery. Science, 224(4647), 420-421.
- The transition into adulthood, often marked by stress, anxiety, and identity formation, can be facilitated by nature, as found in a study published in Emerging Adulthood (2025).
- Nature can serve as a calming space for reflection, social connection, and stress relief for young adults, providing psychological restoration and promoting feelings of mindfulness, peace, and groundedness.
- Regular use of green spaces, such as parks and campuses, has been linked to improved mood, reduced anxiety, and greater clarity of thought, making them beneficial for mental health.
- Designing and promoting green spaces near living and study environments, as well as incorporating nature-based therapies in mental health programs, can encourage nature engagement for emotional growth and stress reduction.
- Gender-sensitive approaches for green space design may be necessary to address safety concerns and guilt about taking breaks, as reported by female participants in the study.
- While nature cannot solve structural issues like poverty or housing insecurity, its role in public wellbeing, particularly among younger populations, deserves more attention, especially as mental health services are increasingly in demand.
