Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    College Advising
    Serving Higher Ed
    Chronicle Festival 2025
Sign In
News

What the Woods Do for Stressed Students

By Peter Monaghan June 16, 2019
Students can find comfort in natural surroundings, the authors of a new book say. The photo is from the cover of the book, “Nature Rx.”
Students can find comfort in natural surroundings, the authors of a new book say. The photo is from the cover of the book, “Nature Rx.”Lindsay France, Cornell U.

Not often do a psychologist and a horticulturist hit upon the same good idea. But Donald A. Rakow and Gregory T. Eells are convinced that they did, and they write about it in their brief Nature Rx: Improving College-Student Mental Health (Comstock Publishing Associates/Cornell University Press, 2019).

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

Students can find comfort in natural surroundings, the authors of a new book say. The photo is from the cover of the book, “Nature Rx.”
Students can find comfort in natural surroundings, the authors of a new book say. The photo is from the cover of the book, “Nature Rx.”Lindsay France, Cornell U.

Not often do a psychologist and a horticulturist hit upon the same good idea. But Donald A. Rakow and Gregory T. Eells are convinced that they did, and they write about it in their brief Nature Rx: Improving College-Student Mental Health (Comstock Publishing Associates/Cornell University Press, 2019).

They describe how colleges can use their campuses’ natural settings to combat a common problem — unhealthy stress among students and employees. The authors take their cue from a movement that has gained momentum in some American cities through such programs as Park Rx, which began in 2010 in Washington. There a pediatrician, Robert Zarr, and his colleagues encouraged citizens to step out into natural settings, and urged health practitioners to prescribe such activities as health remedies.

“There is an incredibly impressive body of scientific evidence now that verifies the psychological, physical, and behavioral benefits of time spent in nature,” says Rakow, an associate professor of horticulture at Cornell University. He and Eells, who in March moved from being Cornell’s director of counseling and psychological services to being executive director of such services at the University of Pennsylvania, say Nature Rx approaches can reduce rates of anxiety and depression, which are high and rising on campuses.

An American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment in 2015 found that more than one-third of college students had suffered from depression in the previous year and three-fifths had experienced “overwhelming anxiety.” Rakow and Eells surmise that students have become “increasingly disconnected from our roots in the natural world,” and with that have lost the “sense of compatibility and discovery” and thus the stress reduction and “attention restoration” that nature can provide.

The Nature Rx approach, they say, can help campus officials and health-care practitioners to tackle stress and its outcomes by making use of campus green spaces, which are often vast and in many cases large enough for strolling and creating gardens. They suggest that colleges’ Nature Rx programs could include components like the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku — forest bathing — as well as off-campus wilderness-adventure activities that build resilience. Even simply tilling a campus garden can reap health benefits, the authors say; they cite studies that found that interacting with the soil can strengthen the human immune system.

Rakow and Eells say that even though the Nature Rx movement is growing in cities around the world, only about a dozen colleges have formal programs. The book discusses various approaches, including Cornell’s. Students and others there can avail themselves of a variety of activities, and advocates like Rakow have encouraged campus health providers to write students prescriptions to “spend time in nature” as part of their overall health plan. In response, 15 health practitioners during the 2018-19 academic year provided nearly 500 “nature prescriptions.” “Psychiatrists, physicians, and nurses, rather than resisting this idea, are really embracing it,” says Rakow.

The authors provide a step-by-step guide to constructing, sustaining, and evaluating Nature Rx programs, including organizing participants, making an inventory of green spaces, and working in partnership with health and counseling personnel.

Just make sure participants put away their cellphones during the activities, the authors advise. And bear in mind, as Rakow says, that some students are hard to reach.

If that results from severe mental-health conditions, he says, “we are the first to point out that Nature Rx should be complementary to other treatments.”

ADVERTISEMENT

As for alerting students that cramming and not sleeping are unwise, Eells says Nature Rx programs should convey such home truths as that spending time in nature can recharge energies: “You can go back to the classic ‘If you’re going to cut down a tree, aren’t you going to sharpen your saw, first?’”

Peter Monaghan is a correspondent for The Chronicle.

A version of this article appeared in the June 21, 2019, issue.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
The Workplace
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
About the Author
Peter Monaghan
Peter Monaghan is a correspondent for The Chronicle.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Pro-Palestinian student protesters demonstrate outside Barnard College in New York on February 27, 2025, the morning after pro-Palestinian student protesters stormed a Barnard College building to protest the expulsion last month of two students who interrupted a university class on Israel. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Campus Activism
A College Vows to Stop Engaging With Some Student Activists to Settle a Lawsuit Brought by Jewish Students
LeeNIHGhosting-0709
Stuck in limbo
The Scientists Who Got Ghosted by the NIH
Protesters attend a demonstration in support of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, March 10, 2025, in New York.
First-Amendment Rights
Noncitizen Professors Testify About Chilling Effect of Others’ Detentions
Photo-based illustration of a rock preciously suspended by a rope over three beakers.
Broken Promise
U.S. Policy Made America’s Research Engine the Envy of the World. One President Could End That.

From The Review

Vector illustration of a suited man with a pair of scissors for a tie and an American flag button on his lapel.
The Review | Opinion
A Damaging Endowment Tax Crosses the Finish Line
By Phillip Levine
University of Virginia President Jim Ryan keeps his emotions in check during a news conference, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 in Charlottesville. Va. Authorities say three people have been killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at the University of Virginia and a student is in custody. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The Review | Opinion
Jim Ryan’s Resignation Is a Warning
By Robert Zaretsky
Photo-based illustration depicting a close-up image of a mouth of a young woman with the letter A over the lips and grades in the background
The Review | Opinion
When Students Want You to Change Their Grades
By James K. Beggan

Upcoming Events

07-31-Turbulent-Workday_assets v2_Plain.png
Keeping Your Institution Moving Forward in Turbulent Times
Ascendium_Housing_Plain.png
What It Really Takes to Serve Students’ Basic Needs: Housing
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin