The Best New Prescription for Health? The Great Outdoors

Laughter may be the best medicine, but exercise, especially when done outside, might be the closest thing we have to a miracle drug.

That's the idea behind park prescriptions, a concept driven by the Institute at the Golden Gate and the American Recreation Coalition as a way to increase the connection between public lands and health care.

Doctors and the medical community are catching on to this idea, "prescribing" nature and the great outdoors as a way to prevent and treat depression, cancer, heart disease and other medical conditions.

But it doesn't just mean a white slip of paper with the words "go outside" from your doc.

"Prescribing instructions are considerably more detailed than ones you might get with a medication; they include the location of a local green space, the name of a specific trail and, when possible, exact mileage," writes Daphne Miller, an associate clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco in a Washington Post article.

In her own office, she's starting to prescribe nature, using the California State Parks Find Recreation and Transit to Trails websites.

And she's not alone. In Little Rock, Arkansas, they have a "medical mile" in the downtown area that cardiologists use to help patients be consistent about their exercise regimen. The city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, started a Prescription Trail program to curb high rates of diabetes; it includes a trail guide doctors can give to patients. In Chicago, the Erie Family Health Center, which cares for medically underserved populations, encourages providers to prescribe physical activity.

Even the White House is getting on board. The concept of park prescriptions has dovetailed with Obama's America's Great Outdoors Initiative and Michelle Obama's Let's Move Campaign; park prescriptions was recently highlighted at a listening session attended by Health and Human Services leadership.

And last month, the National Environmental Education Foundation hosted the Children and Nature Initiative workshop, which trained more than 1,200 pediatric health care providers about prescribing outdoor activities for health.

The health benefits of exercise are numerous. It's been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancers, osteoporosis, stroke, depression and diabetes, just to name a few. A key to longevity, exercise may be the closest thing we have to a  fountain of youth.

And increasingly, there is growing body of work indicating that outdoor exercise in particular is beneficial for treating disease. A study published in Environmental Science and Technology looked at people with moderate depression and found that as little as five minutes outside in nature could lower depression ratings by 40-50 percent, as opposed to the average antidepressent, which only lowers rating by 20-30 percent.

Children, in particular, may benefit from outdoor play and exercise. One study found that children with ADHD concentrate better after walking in a park; another study, published in Environment and Behavior, found that even a view of nature can reduce stress among highly stressed children.

As anyone that runs or walks in the woods can tell you, heading outside makes you feel good -- fresh air, greenery and an intangible sense of renewal. And as more prescriptions for the outdoors are doled out by savvy doctors, the potential side effects -- increased land stewardship, less TV time, fewer pharmaceutical prescriptions -- will be more than welcome.

Photo credit: respres