When a Doctor Prescribes Time in Nature

A nature prescription is a formal referral, from a health or social professional, encouraging someone to spend structured time outdoors. This review asked whether that formality actually delivers measurable health gains, pooling 92 studies with 28 contributing to the quantitative analysis. Compared with control conditions, nature-prescription programmes were associated with a meaningful reduction in blood pressure, on the order of nearly five points of systolic pressure, along with lower depression and anxiety scores, improved mood, and more daily physical activity and steps. An interesting pattern emerged in who delivered what: benefits for anxiety and depression came mainly through social and community professionals, while the blood-pressure and step-count gains came mainly through health professionals, suggesting the route of referral shapes the result. The settings that worked ranged widely, from parks to forests to community gardens, meaning the approach does not depend on wilderness. Where the evidence stops: the authors note that most contributing studies carried a moderate to high risk of bias, and designs were heterogeneous, so effect sizes should be read as indicative rather than precise. What it establishes is that nature can be delivered as a deliberate, prescribable intervention with cardiometabolic and mental-health returns, not left to chance encounters with a park.