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Find a shady spot under a tree, breathe some fresh air and call me in the morning.
Health care providers have long suggested stressed patients spend time outside. Now hundreds of providers are going a step further and issuing formal prescriptions to opt out. This strategy is gaining momentum as the influence of social media, political conflict, and war abroad grows American Psyche.
Of course, no one needs a prescription to quit, but some doctors believe issuing advice this way helps people take it seriously.
“When I bring it up, it’s almost like giving permission for something they might consider trivial when things seem so serious and stressful,” said Dr. Suzanne Hackenmiller of Waterloo. iowaGynecologist who started releasing natural remedies after spending time outdoors, found relief after her husband died.
Walking outside can improve your health
Several studies have shown that spending time in natural areas can lower blood pressure, reduce stress hormones, and boost immunity.
,Study “After the study, we’re ready to be out in nature,” said Dr. Brent Bauer, who serves as director of the complementary and integrative medicine program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The program focuses on practices that are not typically part of traditional medicine, such as meditation, acupuncture, massage, and nutrition. “It’s more than just ‘woo-woo,’ I think nature is good.’ It’s actually science.”
Asking someone out is one thing. Follow-through is something else. About a decade ago, health care providers began formalizing opt-out suggestions through prescriptions.
Dr. Robert Zar, who also works as a nature guide, launched an organization called Parks Rx America around 2016, which offers provider protocols for scheduling nature walks. The guidelines ask patients to talk about what they like to do outside – walking, sitting under a tree, perhaps just watching the leaves fall – how often to do it and where to go. All of this is then combined into a prescription, and Park RX America sends reminders to patients.
Nearly 2,000 providers have registered with the organization across the United States and in several other countries, including Australia, Brazil, Cameroon and Spain. Dr. Stacey Beller Strayer, associate medical director of Park RX America, said they have dispensed more than 7,000 natural prescriptions since 2019. Nearly 100 other organizations like Park RX America have sprung up across the U.S., he said.
A natural recipe can inspire
Bauer is an expert in treating ceo and other business leaders. He said he releases about 30 natural remedies every year. He said the CEOs he deals with sometimes don’t even know where to start and a recipe can give them a fresh start.
“I recommend a lot of things to a lot of patients,” he said. “I’m under no illusion that they all get enacted. When I get a prescription, someone gives me a piece of paper and says you must take this drug… I’m much more likely to get it activated.”
Hackenmiller, the gynecologist from Iowa, said she is having more discussions with patients about going outside as a means of escaping a world locked in perpetual conflict.
“When so many things are out of our control, it can be helpful to step away from the media and immerse ourselves in nature,” she said. “I think time in nature is often associated with people as something that they’ve found solace in and been drawn to at other times in their lives.”
getting out is the important part
The effectiveness of nature remedies is unclear. A 2020 joint study from the U.S. Forest Service, the University of Pennsylvania, and North Carolina State University concluded that more work is needed to measure follow-through and long-term health outcomes.
But as long as you’re not suffocating from wildfire smoke or swarming with mosquitoes, getting outside — no matter what motivates you — can be helpful.
Students at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia issue nature tips to their peers. “Patients” receive prescriptions by filling out an online application, indicating the distance they must travel to the park, how often they can visit, whether they need rides and preferred outdoor activities.
Students issued an average of 22 online prescriptions per month in 2025, up from 12 per month in 2020.
Kelsey Wakiyama, a senior, grew up hiking around her home in Villanova, Pennsylvania, with her family and her dog, Duke. When she started her freshman year at Williamsburg, she didn’t know where to turn. She saw an ad for Nature Prescriptions in the weekly student email and eventually found an ad that helped her find trails near campus.
“I like greenery,” Wakiyama said. “When you’re sitting inside – I was in the library for four hours today – the fresh air feels great. It definitely calms my nervous system. I associate being outside with lightness, peace, good memories. That’s what comes back to me when I’m outside.”