What Are the Benefits of Spending Time Outside Regularly?

Spending time outside can provide daylight, create opportunities for movement and give you a change from indoor surroundings.

If your outdoor time takes place in a park, forest or another natural environment, it may also include contact with nature. However, outdoor time, physical activity and time in nature are not exactly the same thing.

The benefits you experience can depend on where you go, what you do, the time of day and how regularly outdoor time appears in your routine.

This guide explains what current research suggests, what it does not prove and how a realistic outdoor routine can support your everyday wellbeing.

Outdoor time can increase your exposure to daylight

Light and darkness are important environmental signals for the body’s internal clock, also known as the circadian rhythm.

Your circadian system helps regulate patterns of alertness and sleepiness across the day. According to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, light and dark have the largest influence on circadian rhythms, although physical activity, food intake and other factors also play a role.

Outdoor daylight is generally much brighter than ordinary indoor lighting, even when the weather is cloudy. Spending part of the day outside can therefore provide a stronger daytime light signal than remaining indoors.

This does not mean that a particular number of outdoor minutes will automatically improve your sleep. Sleep is affected by many factors, including your schedule, health, evening light exposure, caffeine and sleeping environment.

However, regular daytime outdoor time can be one practical way to include more natural light in your routine.

If you are deciding when to go outside, read Morning, Lunch or Evening: When Is the Best Time to Go Outside?.

Outdoor time can create more opportunities for movement

Going outside does not automatically mean that you are exercising. You can sit, read or relax outdoors without completing physical activity.

However, outdoor time can make certain forms of movement easier to add to the day. You might walk around the block, cycle to a destination, work in a garden, play outside or complete an errand on foot.

The World Health Organization states that regular physical activity provides important physical and mental health benefits. For adults, it recommends at least 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week, or the equivalent amount of vigorous activity.

An outdoor walk can contribute to both your outdoor goal and your weekly movement. Sitting outside contributes to your outdoor goal but does not count as moderate-intensity exercise.

The distinction is useful because it allows you to decide what you need on a particular day. Sometimes you may want movement. At other times, you may need a quiet outdoor break.

Explore Outdoor Activities That Do Not Feel Like Exercise for accessible ways to combine movement and outdoor time.

Outdoor breaks can interrupt long periods spent indoors

Work, studying, household responsibilities and entertainment can keep you in the same indoor environment for many hours.

An outdoor break creates a clear change of place. If the break includes walking or another activity, it can also interrupt a long period of sitting.

The benefit from movement comes from the physical activity itself, not simply from crossing the doorway. A person sitting outside is still sitting, although the change of surroundings and daylight exposure may provide a different experience from remaining at an indoor desk.

You can use an outdoor break to:

• walk after a period of desk work
• move between work tasks
• separate work from personal time
• take a break from a screen
• change your surroundings for a few minutes

Remote workers can find specific strategies in How to Get Outside More When You Work From Home.

Time in natural environments has been associated with wellbeing

Not every outdoor setting is a natural environment. A balcony beside a busy street and a walk through a park are both outdoor activities, but they provide different surroundings.

Research reviews have found associations between nature exposure and outcomes including mental health, cognitive function and physical activity. Some experimental studies have also reported short-term changes in mood, stress measures or attention after time in natural environments.

These findings should be interpreted carefully. Studies use different definitions of nature, different activities and different ways of measuring outcomes. Many findings show an association rather than proving that nature exposure directly caused the result.

You also do not need access to a remote forest or national park. Research may include urban parks, gardens, woodlands, beaches and other green or blue spaces.

If a natural setting is available and accessible to you, it can be one option for your regular outdoor time. If it is not, you can still build an outdoor routine close to home.

Nature may provide a form of psychological restoration

Some theories suggest that natural environments can give heavily directed attention an opportunity to rest. Instead of continuously concentrating on a task or screen, your attention can move more gently between sounds, movement and details in the environment.

Research has linked nature exposure with measures of attention, mood and psychological restoration, although results and study quality vary.

This means it is more accurate to say that time in nature may support restoration or has been associated with better wellbeing than to promise that a short outdoor break will remove stress or improve concentration for everyone.

You can make the experience simpler by leaving work behind, reducing phone use and noticing your surroundings. The break does not need to become another task that you must perform perfectly.

Outdoor time can provide a break from screens

Going outside does not automatically create a screen-free break. You can still spend the entire time looking at your phone.

However, an outdoor routine gives you a convenient opportunity to put the screen away for a few minutes.

You might:

• walk without checking notifications
• leave your phone indoors while sitting outside
• keep your phone in a pocket
• listen to the surroundings instead of playing audio
• look around rather than taking photographs

You do not need to avoid your phone during every outdoor activity. Listening to music, following a walking route or calling someone may help you go outside more often.

The useful question is whether the phone supports the outdoor activity or keeps your attention in the same scrolling routine you wanted to interrupt.

Outdoor activities can support social connection

Outdoor time can also create opportunities to spend time with other people.

You might walk with a friend, meet for coffee outdoors, visit a park with family or take part in an outdoor activity.

The social benefit comes from the interaction rather than the outdoor setting alone. However, choosing an outdoor activity can provide an alternative to always meeting inside.

A regular walking plan can also make outdoor time easier to remember because another person and a specific time are involved.

What about vitamin D?

Your skin can produce vitamin D when it is exposed to ultraviolet B radiation from sunlight. However, the amount produced varies according to factors such as season, latitude, time of day, skin pigmentation, age, clothing and sun protection.

More sun exposure is not automatically better. Ultraviolet radiation can damage the skin and increase the risk of skin cancer.

Do not use a daily outdoor challenge as a prescription for unprotected sun exposure. Follow local sun-safety guidance, use shade and protective clothing when appropriate and consider the current UV level.

If you are concerned about vitamin D deficiency or whether you need a supplement, seek advice from a qualified healthcare professional. Your outdoor tracker cannot determine your vitamin D requirements.

Is there an ideal amount of outdoor time?

There is no universal daily outdoor target that guarantees a particular health benefit.

A widely discussed observational study found that people who reported spending at least 120 minutes a week in natural environments were more likely to report good health and higher wellbeing than people who reported no nature contact.

The time could be accumulated through one long visit or several shorter visits. However, the study did not prove that exactly 120 minutes caused the reported outcomes, and it focused specifically on recreational time in nature.

Your practical daily goal may therefore be 5, 10, 20, 30 or another number of minutes based on your routine and starting point.

Read How Much Time Should You Spend Outside Each Day? before choosing your target.

Regularity can make outdoor time easier to remember

Completing an activity regularly gives it a predictable place in your routine.

You could connect outdoor time to breakfast, lunch, finishing work or another event that already happens each day. The existing action then becomes a reminder.

A repeatable plan may be more useful than waiting for motivation or trying to organise a long outdoor trip occasionally.

If you frequently forget, read How to Remember to Get Outside During a Busy Day. For a complete routine-building approach, see How to Build a Daily Outdoor Habit That Fits Your Routine.

Outdoor time does not have to be active

A quiet outdoor activity can still provide daylight, a change of surroundings and, depending on the location, contact with nature.

You could read, journal, drink something, listen to music or sit outdoors without turning the break into a workout.

These activities should not be described as substitutes for physical activity. They simply serve a different purpose within your outdoor routine.

See Does Sitting Outside Count? Easy Ways to Get Outdoors Without Exercising for more guidance.

Choose outdoor activities that fit your everyday life

You are more likely to use an outdoor plan when it is accessible and does not require extensive preparation.

Start close to home. Walk around your neighbourhood, sit outside with a drink, visit a nearby park or take part of an existing activity outdoors.

You can find practical options in 25 Easy Ways to Spend More Time Outside.

Your routine may also need to change with the seasons. Use How to Spend More Time Outside in Winter to prepare for colder and darker conditions.

Remember that outdoor conditions matter

Outdoor time is not beneficial under every possible condition.

Extreme heat, severe cold, storms, wildfire smoke, air pollution and high ultraviolet levels may require you to shorten, move or postpone an outdoor activity.

Check local weather, air-quality and safety guidance when conditions are uncertain. Use shade, suitable clothing, hydration and sun protection when appropriate.

The goal is to build a supportive outdoor routine, not to remain outside when conditions are unsafe.

Build a regular outdoor routine for 30 days

If you want to spend more time outside, begin with a measurable goal rather than trying to pursue every possible benefit.

Choose how many minutes you want to spend outside each day. Decide what activities count and prepare an option that works on ordinary, busy and low-energy days.

The 30 Day Get Outside Path is a printable tracker that helps you make this routine visible. Complete one circle each day you reach your chosen outdoor goal.

Your daily action is:

Spend your chosen number of minutes outside and complete one circle when you reach your daily goal.

Use How to Spend More Time Outside: A Simple 30 Day Challenge to plan your complete challenge.

Start with an amount that fits your current life and focus on completing one outdoor goal at a time.

Explore the complete Get Outside printable collection for more outdoor challenges and trackers.

Sources and further reading

• National Institute of General Medical Sciences: Circadian Rhythms
• World Health Organization: Physical Activity
• International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: Associations Between Nature Exposure and Health
• Scientific Reports: Spending at Least 120 Minutes a Week in Nature Is Associated With Good Health and Wellbeing
• National Institutes of Health: Vitamin D
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Sun Safety