Nature-based walking interventions represent a low-cost, eco-friendly activity, designed to assist people in maintaining physical well-being and improving their mental-health status. This systematic review aims to evaluate the evidence regarding the effectiveness of nature-based walking interventions in the improvement of mental health outcomes in adults. This paper draws upon Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ASSIA), PsycINFO, MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Web of Science Core Collection, Doctoral thesis databases (ProQuest), and manual searches. Due to the heterogeneity of the eligible studies, a narrative synthesis was employed. The present review includes 1,209 adult participants, of whom 336 were female; it also involves 17 discrete studies. The evidence from this systematic review suggests that nature-based walking interventions can indeed improve adults’ moods, sense of optimism, mental well-being, and nature connectedness. They simultaneously mitigate stress, anxiety, and negative rumination. In addition, compared with urban walking, nature-based walking interventions may bring greater benefits vis-à-vis anxiety and rumination. This review contributes to the synthesis of evidence for nature-based walking interventions, and identifies several research gaps around the topic. In clinical practice, nature-based interventions may be used to relieve one’s negative mood, stress, and anxiety. To enhance treatment efficacy, however, they should be combined with formal modes of psychotherapy.

The aim of this project was to conduct a randomised control study to examine whether outdoor mindful walking in nature can effectively improve university students’ sleep quality, mood, and mindfulness during the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.K. Participants were measured at T₀ (pre-study baseline), T₁ (pre-intervention), T₂ (post-intervention), and T₃ (follow-up). A total of 104 participants (female = 94) who were experiencing sleep difficulties were randomly allocated to either an experimental (i.e., nature) or control (i.e., urban) walking environment. Participants in each walking condition independently undertook a daily 35-minute walk for a week (7 days). Subjective sleep quality, total mood disturbance, mindfulness, and degree of nature connectedness, and participants’ perspectives on the intervention, were collected. Findings suggest that both groups resulted in significant improvements in participants' trait mindfulness, sleep quality and mood after the intervention. However, mindful walking in nature did not bring additional mental health benefits to participants relative to those who walked an urban environment. Participants provided their perspectives about the intervention, which will assist with future intervention development. Findings contribute to the evidence-base on the effectiveness of outdoor mindful walking interventions for enhancing mental health. These findings contribute new knowledge on how mindful walking outdoors reduces university students’ mood disturbances and improves sleep quality and mindfulness level.

(1) Background: The rapid growth of urbanisation and the increased prevalence of mental problems have been concerns in China. ‘Green prescription’ such as keeping houseplants has been found to be an effective means of interacting with nature and improving mental health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychological effects of keeping houseplants in the home and to examine how ‘connection to nature’ relates to mental well-being and mindfulness among Chinese adults living in urban areas; (2) Methods: A cross-sectional survey was completed by 421 (66.3% female) participants from 19 representative Chinese cities; (3) Results: Results revealed that participants who self-classified themselves as ‘houseplants carers’ reported higher levels of mental well-being compared with ‘non-houseplants carers’. Specifically, hours spent on taking care of houseplants, the number of houseplants, and the years of keeping houseplants were positively associated with greater levels of mental well-being and the trait of mindfulness. (4) Conclusions: The findings of the current study have implications for use of therapeutic horticulture for people who are seeking to improve their mental well-being and mindfulness in urban China.

The mental health of young adults, particularly university students, has become a global concern. Nature-based interventions have shown promise in alleviating anxiety and negative emotions. This study explored the effectiveness of Virtual Reality (VR)-based nature therapy in reducing anxiety, negative mood, and stress while enhancing mindfulness among university students. A three-armed randomised controlled trial was conducted. Two hundred thirty-six students with anxiety symptoms were randomly assigned to either a VR intervention group, a placebo control group, or an inactive control group after the baseline assessment. We developed a VR intervention system called Mind Nature, featuring nature-based activities such as planting, observing natural environments, rowing across the water, and personal reflection, all accompanied by mindful audio guidance within a fully immersive 360-degree, three-dimensional VR environment. The placebo control group engaged in a VR sports game using a VR headset, while the control group received no intervention. Each session lasted approximately 30 min. Anxiety, mood, stress, mindfulness, and nature-relatedness were measured three times: pre- and post-intervention and at a 2-week follow-up. Results revealed significant group-time interaction effects, with greater reductions in anxiety, negative affect, and stress in the VR intervention group compared to the placebo and control groups. This study highlights the effectiveness of VR-based nature therapy and its potential as an effective and convenient mental health intervention for university students, offering a promising complement to traditional therapeutic approaches.