‘Green Exercise’ Boosts Health and Happiness

As Talk and Walk with a Doc returns this Saturday in Wellfleet, we checked in with Elissa Thompson, MD, who highlights the benefits of exercising in a natural environment and explains why this habit improves your sense of well-being.

By Beth Ann Lombardi

It might be time to move your favorite workout routine outside. Even your ping-pong table. 

Studies say the added benefit of exercising in nature reduces stress, depression and blood pressure, while it increases self-esteem, mood and well-being.

“Green exercise” is a thing, and it might just be your easiest answer to better health and happiness.

By definition, green exercise is being physically active within a natural environment or greenspace, and more than one study has shown that children and adults—everyone and every age—can benefit from time spent being active outside, said Cardiologist Elissa Thompson, MD. 

“From gardening to hiking to whatever your choice of activity, you don’t have to be outside often or very long to gain immense emotional benefits. Of course, I encourage everyone to do more than less,” she enthused. “There are a lot of studies that show even one episode of being outdoors improves your outlook. If you are depressed or anxious, more episodes of green exercise can be helpful. Being outdoors is fun, exciting, stimulating, and the more there is, the more stimulated your mind is.”

Dr. Thompson and a Cape Cod National Seashore park ranger will host Talk and Walk With A Doc, at 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 20, 2023, at the Cape Cod National Seashore Marconi Station site in Wellfleet. This free green exercise event is part of Cape Cod Healthcare/Cape Cod National Seashore Healthy Parks Healthy People partnership. The program promotes health and wellness for year-round and seasonal residents, as well as visitors to the Cape.

If you live in a community like Cape Cod where there are more opportunities for you around every corner to interact with the outdoors, she recommends taking advantage of nature to be healthier, more active and happier. 

“This really resonated with me as a resident of Cape Cod where we have stunning natural beauty outside every door," says Dr. Thompson. "Of course, you don’t have to be the wealthiest person. You can walk to the end of your street and see the ocean, and not a lot of people get to do that. Don’t take the beauty around you for granted; make the most of it for your health and happiness.”

Sense of Well-Being Improves

One recent study reported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) compared people who reported their starting level of well-being as ‘average-high’ with participants who reported ‘low’ starting well-being. Those who reported low well-being exhibited greater improvements after four weeks of exposure to green exercise, with 60.8% moving into the ‘average-high’ well-being category.

As Dr. Thompson explained, this study included people at risk and represented a broad swath of the population.

“It was astonishing to me that people who started at the lowest end of the spectrum in terms of their sense of well-being got the most benefit, even after just four weeks of exposures to the outdoors and green exercise.”

Patients ask Dr. Thompson every year if she is going to present a Talk and Walk with a Doc event again, and she thinks it has inspired a few more people to visit the Seashore and hopes it encourages them to get outside more often. Volunteering to be outside is one of her favorite activities.

“I grew up in a seaside community,” said Dr. Thompson. “We weren’t very wealthy, but everyone was always at the beach. We played outside, and we all had a lot of fun because we lived in an environment with really exceptional beauty. Growing up, that was part of our DNA. On Cape Cod, I feel sometimes that we need to remind ourselves how unbelievably beautiful it is and how lucky we are to have immediate access to this outdoor setting. Use it for green exercise purposes. Remember that it takes just a little time outside in nature to radically improve your sense of well-being with green exercise. Yes, we live in a beautiful place, but you don’t have to be a championship kayaker to get the most benefits out of green exercise.”

This story originally appeared in Cape Cod Health News on May 16, 2023.