Today’s science also confirms this: There is nothing better for the mind than a walk in the countryside. A visit to the park measurably reduces the level of stress hormones. Biologist Gregory Bratman from Stanford University recently showed how such a walk affects the brain. He let subjects walk through his university’s green campus for an hour and a half, then measured their brain activity and saw that their subgenual prefrontal cortex (SPC) had calmed down. An active SPC is associated by brain researchers with rumination, and in fact Bratman’s subjects reported in surveys that they were less likely to get caught up in negative thoughts about their lives. Other studies have demonstrated that walking improves memory and reduces the risk of depression.
*The original of this article was first published by our partner Schweizer Illustrierte.