6 Ways to Reconnect with Nature

You reconnect with nature the same way you reconnect with an old friend: a little, often, and close to home, with a plant to tend, a walk under trees, a few minutes listening for birds. You don't need a forest or a free weekend, and a large study found that around two hours a week in nature was linked to better health and wellbeing, however you split that time up.

We've all felt it. The days that run from one screen to the next. The weeks where the only sky we see is through a window on the way to somewhere else. We get tired in a way sleep doesn't fix, short on patience, a bit flat.

Part of that is simply that we're living creatures cut off from the living world. Our food doesn't come from hunting anymore and our shelter has central heating, but something in us still wants weather on our skin and green in our eyes.

So here are six ways to find your way back, even if you live in a flat in the middle of a city. Each one ends with something small you can do this week.

Bring the outdoors inside

Can't get out much? Then bring a small piece of the outdoors to you. Pick one nook, a windowsill, a corner of the balcony, the edge of your desk, and make it green. A few pots from the local nursery are plenty. If you'd rather not keep anything alive alone, a community garden lets you share the work and the soil.

Start with the forgiving ones. A jar of basil or mint on the kitchen sill, a pothos that tolerates being forgotten for a week. Herbs are a good first step because you get to eat your success.

And it isn't just a nice hobby. A meta-analysis of gardening studies found a clear positive effect on health, with studies reporting things like lower depression and anxiety and higher life satisfaction. The real gift, though, is the daily check-in: a minute of watering, noticing a new leaf, turning the pot toward the light. That minute is a pause you didn't have to schedule.

This week: buy one herb or one easy houseplant, put it where you'll see it every morning, and give it a minute of your attention each day.

Take a walk where things grow

Our lives have gone indoors. We work sitting down, we exercise in gyms, and we can go a whole day without a single breath of unfiltered air. A walk is the simplest way to change that, and where you walk matters.

In one Stanford study, people who took a 90-minute walk in a natural setting reported less rumination, that loop of going over the same worries, than people who walked the same length of time in an urban setting. It was a small study, so treat it as a nudge rather than a promise. But it matches what most of us already know from experience. A path with trees on either side calms the head in a way a pavement full of traffic doesn't.

You don't need a hike. A park, a canal towpath, a tree-lined street, the long way round through the green bit. Leave the podcast off for the first ten minutes. Look up. Notice what's flowering, what the birds are doing, how the light falls. And the walking itself counts toward the 150 minutes of moderate activity a week the NHS recommends for adults.

This week: find the greenest route within ten minutes of your door and walk it three times, phone in your pocket.

Eat with the seasons

We've reached a point where almost everything is available all year round. Mangoes in winter, strawberries in December. There's real convenience in that. But somewhere along the way we stopped noticing what time of year it is.

Eating seasonally is a gentle way to notice again. When you know the first peas are in, or that it's the last few weeks of good tomatoes, you're paying attention to the same calendar the farmers and the trees follow. Food becomes a way of keeping time.

A farmers' market is the easiest place to start because it only sells what's ready. No market nearby? Ask the person at your local greengrocer or vegetable vendor what's just come in. They usually love being asked.

This week: buy one fruit or vegetable that's in season where you live right now, and cook one meal around it.

Feel the ground under your feet

Some of us haven't stood barefoot on grass since we were children. Try it. Slip off your shoes in a park or a garden and stand still for a minute. Feel the cool of the grass, the uneven earth, the warmth or the damp.

You may have read big claims about "earthing" or "grounding" curing poor sleep or chronic pain. We're leaving those out, because the evidence isn't strong enough for us to repeat them. What we can honestly say is this: it's a very fast way to get out of your head and into your body. You can't scroll and feel the grass at the same time.

If you live near the sea, sand works beautifully. If you live on the fourth floor with no garden, a balcony floor after rain, or your hands in a pot of soil, will do the same job of bringing your attention back to the present.

This week: on one morning, take your shoes off outside for two minutes. Just stand, breathe and notice.

Spend time with animals and birds

Animals live entirely in the present. Spending time around them has a way of pulling us there too. A dog doesn't care about your inbox. A sparrow doesn't care about your deadline.

Birds are the city dweller's easiest way in, because they're already everywhere. A study using a smartphone app found that seeing or hearing birds in everyday life was linked to lasting improvements in mental wellbeing, including for people living with depression. You don't have to go looking for rare species. The pigeons and crows and the one bird that sings outside your window at dawn all count.

There are plenty of other ways in. Walk a friend's dog. Hang a bird feeder or put out a shallow dish of water. Volunteer at a local shelter, or take in a pet for a while if your life has room for one. If you're thinking about a longer commitment, we've written about how owning a pet can change your life. And if you have children, these are lovely things to do with them, because care for animals is how a lot of us first learned to care for the planet.

This week: spend five minutes by an open window or on a park bench and count how many different birds you can hear. You'll be surprised.

Spend an evening outdoors

If you can get away, a night outside is one of the best resets there is. Camping, glamping (yes, it counts), a cabin with no Wi-Fi. Take a break from screens and let the day end the old way, with the light going and the sky taking over.

No trip planned? Pitch a tent in the backyard if you have one. String up a hammock. Sit by a fire pit and toast marshmallows. If you have children, this is where they learn that outdoors isn't just the bit between the car and the building.

And in the city, the evening sky is still yours. You may not see many stars, but you'll see the moon change from night to night, and sunset happens over every rooftop. Give it your full attention once and it stops being background.

This week: watch one sunset from start to finish, from a rooftop, a balcony, a park or a window. No phone until the colour's gone.

Find your roots again

Here's what we believe. The concrete, the screens, the hours indoors haven't changed what we are. We're still creatures who calm down near trees and water and birdsong. That part of us is still there, waiting to be visited.

So don't wait for the perfect weekend away. Start with one plant, one walk, one sunset. If you'd like more small ways to settle yourself, these simple tips to calm yourself pair well with time outside.

Nature helps, and some things need more. If you've been feeling low, anxious or flat for weeks and time outdoors isn't lifting it, please talk to your doctor or a therapist. That's a strong thing to do.

Step outside. Breathe. Listen for the birds. You're closer to finding your way back than you think.

How do you like to connect with nature? Tell us in the comments, we'd love to add your favourites to the list.