Take a restorative nature walk

Walk in a green or natural setting to let directed attention recover.

Why it works

Directed attention fatigues when you suppress distractions to stay focused. Natural settings capture attention through soft fascination — clouds, water, foliage that hold the gaze without demanding effortful focus — so the directed-attention system can rest and replenish while you remain alert.

How to do it

1. Choose a genuinely natural setting (park, trees, water) over a busy street.
2. Leave the phone away or on do-not-disturb so attention is not pulled back to effortful tasks.
3. Let your attention wander to whatever draws it, rather than directing it.

Evidence

Experimental studies have found that walks in nature, versus urban walks, improve performance on directed-attention tasks (e.g. backwards digit span) and mood. A controlled study also found a 90-minute nature walk reduced rumination and quieted subgenual prefrontal cortex activity relative to an urban walk, and a systematic review has since assessed the strength of the attention-restoration evidence across studies. (rct)

Sample sizes are often modest and some findings are mixed; the cognitive boost is real but typically small-to-moderate, and the mood effect tends to be more robust than the attention effect.

Sources

• Berman, Jonides & Kaplan (2008), cognitive benefits of interacting with nature, Psychological Science
• Berman, M. G., Jonides, J., & Kaplan, S. (2008). The cognitive benefits of interacting with nature. Psychological Science, 19(12), 1207–1212.
• Bratman, G. N., Hamilton, J. P., Hahn, K. S., Daily, G. C., & Gross, J. J. (2015). Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(28), 8567–8572.
• Ohly, H., White, M. P., Wheeler, B. W., Bethel, A., Ukoumunne, O. C., Nikolaou, V., & Garside, R. (2016). Attention Restoration Theory: A systematic review of the attention restoration potential of exposure to natural environments. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B, 19(7), 305–343.

Common mistake

Walking in nature while on a call or scrolling, which keeps directed attention engaged and removes the restorative effect the setting would otherwise provide.