Don’t force spending time in nature if it gives you no joy: Study

A new study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology’s June 2025 volume found that simply enjoying the experience of being in nature is more strongly associated with happiness and life satisfaction than the frequency of outdoor activities. Also read | New pain killer revealed: Study shows the neurological power of nature to relieve physical discomfort
Enjoying nature matters

Emotional engagement with nature plays a central role in boosting well-being. The study suggests a shift in focus from just visiting nature to emotionally engaging with it as appreciating and enjoying nature can have a positive impact on mental health and well-being.

More research is needed to understand the complex relationship between physical contact with nature and well-being – but by emphasising the importance of emotional engagement with nature, the study provides valuable insights into the complex relationship between nature and human well-being.
Shift in focus

Interestingly, as per the findings, physical contact with nature might not directly enhance well-being and could even negatively influence the relationship when considered alongside perceptual enjoyment. So, if people do not find joy in the visit, being in nature may actually reduce their happiness or life satisfaction.

“I am a survey methodologist, but subjective well-being, particularly happiness and life satisfaction, and environmental issues have been my research interests since graduate school,” said study author Pei-shan Liao of the Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences at Academia Sinica.

Pei-shan added, “This publication is part of a series based on my research. Another key objective is to promote and validate the question items on nature contact and enjoyment. These items, derived from the ISSP 2020 Environment module, were proposed by the Taiwanese team to measure positive aspects of natural environment through intentional interaction. We are happy and satisfied with the results.”
More about the study

For their study, the researchers used data from the 2020 Taiwan Social Change Survey, a nationally representative dataset collected from over 1,800 adults across Taiwan between June 2020 and February 2021. The survey focused on environmental issues and included questions about participants’ frequency of outdoor activities, how much they enjoyed being in nature, their general happiness, and life satisfaction.

The researchers also accounted for several background variables known to influence well-being, including age, gender, income, marital status, education, employment status, religious activity, perceived health, and social status.

Researchers found that enjoyment of nature was a strong predictor of outdoor activity frequency, meaning that people who enjoyed nature more were also more likely to spend time outside. When examining happiness, they found that enjoyment of nature was consistently associated with higher happiness scores. However, physical contact with nature—how often people actually went outside—was not positively related to happiness. In fact, after adjusting for possible statistical bias, greater physical engagement with nature showed a surprising negative association with happiness.

“The negative association between visiting nature and subjective well-being, including both happiness and life satisfaction, surprised us,” Liao said, adding, “We have tried different coding scheme for data analysis but the findings remained the same. It is possible that enjoying contact with nature makes people want to engage in outdoor activities more than they are actually able to, which may lead to dissatisfaction with their situation. Such results may also be attributed to the study’s non-Western setting. It will be great to have data from more countries to further examine the issue.”

Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.