Nature and the Mind: The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical, and Social Well-Being

by Marc Berman

From the acclaimed founder of environmental neuroscience, Dr. Marc Berman, comes a groundbreaking guide that reveals how interacting with nature can be the secret to improved mental and physical health.

Dr. Marc Berman, the pioneering creator of the field of environmental neuroscience, has discovered the surprising connection between mind, body, and environment, with a special emphasis on the natural environment. He has devoted his life to studying it. If you sometimes feel drained, distracted, or depressed, Dr. Berman has identified the elements of a “nature prescription” that can boost your energy, sharpen your focus, change your mood, and improve your mental and physical health. He also reveals how central attention is to all of these functions, and how interactions with nature can restore it. Nature and the Mind is both an introduction to a revolutionary new scientific field and a helpful guide to better living.

In these pages, he draws on his original research and research from others and shares life-altering findings such as:
-Just eleven more trees on your street can decrease cardio-metabolic disorders like stroke, diabetes, and heart disease.
-A short walk in nature can improve attention by almost twenty percent, decrease depression symptoms, and make people feel more spiritual and self-reflective.
-More greenspace around schools and homes is related to better school performance, reduced crime, and improved working memory.
-Many of these effects can be achieved even if you don’t like nature.

With an engaging and approachable style, Dr. Berman offers the nature prescription for physical health, mental health, and social health. Importantly, you don’t have to pack up your house and move to the country to participate. The nature prescription includes practical ways to bring the outside indoors and to “naturize” our spaces, no matter where you live. The positive effects of nature don’t just end at the individual; contact with nature can make people more caring towards one another, promote economic and racial justice, encourage people to care more for the environment, and more.

This groundbreaking guide explains why and how nature is good for our brains and bodies and gives us a window into fundamental aspects of our psychology and physiology that can be improved through interactions with nature.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Science, Psychology, Medicine, Health, Plants

336 pages, Hardcover

Published August 12, 2025

Reviews

[Andrew Chandler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Expected (hoped for) more. Berman runs an Environmental Neuroscience lab that looks at how nature effects human psychology. His book centers on a few studies that show interesting effects on cognition and stress, though this book stays in the pop-science vein and doesn't ever discuss statistical significance or p-value. Interesting stuff.

Beyond this, the book tries to broaden the value of their research, reverencing various graduate student research with vague references to neuro-networks and surveys, and disclaimers regarding correlation/causation, and the need for further studies. The whole time I'm thinking "half these studies would not be able to be replicated, or suffer from a flawed setup, or suffer from perplexing reasoning that only a group of academics could believe.

As an example, the author hypothesizes that the relationship between low neighborhood life expectancy and high teenage pregnancy rates in those neighborhoods is due to teenage girls thinking decades in the future and deciding that they want to start their family now so they can enjoy grand kids before they die. Um, not only is there plenty of good studies on why teenage pregnancies occur, there is also a lot of studies that poor life decisions like crime and teenage pregnancies are based on very short term thinking and impulsivity control, not the ability for a 15 year old to think deeply about their life in 40 years. Unfortunately, this book has many bizarre viewpoints such as this, all of which end with nature being more important than we have thought.

This book should have been a short TED talk and no more until they developed some more concrete research to support their claims.

[Sarah Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review: Nature and the Mind: The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical, and Social Well-Being by Marc Berman
Rating: 4.7/5

Public Health Perspective
As a public health professional, I found Berman’s work to be a critical bridge between environmental science and population health. The evidence he presents—such as reduced cardiovascular and metabolic risks from urban greening and improved mental health outcomes with exposure to nature—aligns with broader goals of preventive medicine and health equity. His findings underscore the potential for urban planning and public policy to leverage nature-based interventions in addressing chronic disease burdens and mental health crises.

Strengths for Public Health Practice
-Data-Driven Advocacy: The quantified benefits (e.g., 11 trees → reduced stroke risk) provide actionable metrics for policymakers to justify green infrastructure investments.
-Health Equity Implications: Highlights how nature deprivation disproportionately affects marginalized communities, linking environmental justice to health disparities.
-Scalable Interventions: Naturizing urban spaces offers cost-effective strategies for municipalities to improve community health without clinical infrastructure.

Constructive Criticism
-Implementation Gaps: While the science is robust, the book could more explicitly address barriers (e.g., funding, zoning laws) to translating research into policy.
-Diverse Populations: Limited discussion on cultural variations in nature engagement (e.g.,Indigenous practices) that could enrich public health applications.
-Longitudinal Data: More emphasis on sustained nature exposure’s impact (beyond acute effects) would strengthen its relevance for chronic disease prevention.

Final Assessment
This book is a must-read for public health professionals seeking evidence to champion nature as a social determinant of health. Berman’s research validates what many in our field intuit: that parks and trees are as vital to population health as vaccines and screenings.

Rating: 4.7/5 (A seminal work that elevates nature from a “nice-to-have” to a public health imperative.)

[gingkogirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book about why nature matters—and it truly does, even for those who feel ambivalent about it. I deeply appreciate the work Dr. Berman has done in the field of environmental neuroscience. His research helps us understand how exposure to nature enhances nearly every aspect of our lives, from our physical health to our mental well-being (and the two are inseparable!). Simply spending time in nature—or even pausing to appreciate a tree outside the kitchen or office window—can make us happier, healthier, and more resilient in the face of life’s challenges. In some ways, I’ve always known this instinctively. As a lifelong nature lover and hiker, I’ve felt firsthand how powerful and restorative nature can be. But reading about Dr. Berman’s groundbreaking research confirmed what I’ve sensed since childhood: nature improves our cognitive, physical, and social well-being. Could a tree, a river, or the ocean—or any part of the natural world—be a prescription for good health? Absolutely. And Dr. Berman’s research proves it.

[Ginny Yurich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loooooooved this one!!! Learned so much!

[Elsa Lydman]

Intressant!!!

[Julia MacPherson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 Losing half a star because this sometimes felt like a challenge for how many times the author could include the word fractal. I think we all inherently know nature is good for you so it’s good to see research quantifying this and finding out why. Interesting read but repetitive at times.

[Patrick Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

In September 2025 Shankar Vedantam interviewed Marc G. Berman for an episode of “Hidden Brain.” A few weeks later Mr. Berman appeared on the NPR show “1A.” It was on one of these two shows that I learned about Nature and the Mind. As the subtitle states, the book discusses “The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical, and Social Well-Being.”

The thesis is simple but profound. Spending time in natural settings, or living, working, or attending school where we are exposed to nature in some form can be beneficial. We don’t have to live in a cabin in the woods or spend our days in the forest or on a tree-lined riverbank or lakeshore. Brief contact, and even contact with synthetic nature works. It works to improve our ability to pay attention, concentrate, and hold information in short-term memory. It works to reduce crime and improve outcomes from medical treatments. Conversely, Dr. Berman cites research showing that when tree populations have been reduced because of pest infestations, mortality from heart and lung disease have increased measurably.

I happened to be reading this book on New Year’s Eve in 2025. It had snowed several days before, and I was planning to lead a group from our church on a walk in a local park on New Year’s Day, but I wanted to see if the paths that we would walk on were free of snow and ice. Before doing so I had started to reconcile my checking account with the bank’s records. After an hour or so I was left with a discrepancy between my records and the bank’s and I could not find where the error had been introduced. I put that task aside and ran some errands, including a 37-minute walk around the perimeter of the park. Returning home after the walk I returned to the checking account and within ten minutes I found two mistakes in the worksheet that I was using for the reconciliation. I have long been convinced of the benefits of spending time in nature, and this incident strengthened that conviction.

I can’t imagine anyone at any stage in life or walk of life who wouldn’t benefit from reading this book, or a magazine-article-length summary of it, or a graphic novel that explores the thesis. City planners, health-care professionals, residential and commercial architects and building developers, and school administrators at all levels would do well to read this book. Similarly, readers who find the work of Richard Louv author of Last Child in the Woods valuable will be similarly impressed by Mark G. Berman’s work.

References to the field of environmental neuroscience, of which Marc G. Berman is the founder, may lead the reader to think that the book will be full of scientific or psychological jargon, but such is not the case. It is accessible, although it does call for focused attention. Maybe start reading it after taking a walk in a nearby park!

[Francis Tapon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many nonfiction books are better off as articles.
Marc Berman's book may be one of those, as everyone will likely agree with his thesis: nature is good for the human soul.

It has a high "duh" factor.

This is why I was hesitant to read Berman's book.
Still, I hoped to glean some remarkable facts.

"The worse off we are, maybe the more dramatically nature can set us right."

Humans love biophilic architecture, which mimics natural elements by incorporating curves and organic qualities.

We don't know if walking in Yosemite is better than walking in your urban park.

29% of US adults have been diagnosed with depression at some point.

Naturalize your space: bring a real or fake plant to work, create an arch over a doorway, or make your alarm clock play birdsong.

Supernatural images are preferred over natural ones.

Future cities should incorporate plants abundantly.
Buildings will look like giant trees or mountains.

Bermann is not anti-city. Stockholm is an ideal city. Singapore, Seoul, and Amsterdam are also notable for their innovation.

KEY TAKEAWAY: We are who we are because of our environment. Science proves that green spaces improve minds.

If you desire a deep dive into this subject, this is a perfect book.
I skimmed several sections because I felt the book was overkill for the subject matter.

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most unfortunate aspect of this book is that it will probably be preaching to the choir. Nature lovers are going to be attracted to it, and it will confirm what you've already experienced for yourself: nature calms us, enhances our cognitive functions, alleviates depression, provides health benefits, increases enjoyment. It offers science to back up these facts, so they're not just theories or intuitions anymore. A few pieces that were more surprising to me: neighbourhoods with more nature (he uses the term "naturized") see less crime, less obesity, and greater longevity among residents. If you can't immerse yourself in nature, a view of it out the window or in a picture, a plant in the room (even a fake one that looks real), a nature soundscape in the background, all offer similar benefits. I appreciate that he doesn't advocate for everyone to move to the country and start homesteading. In fact, he advocates for city-living and how cities can be improved to improve us by naturizing the space. It's not just the climate that needs plants: human wellbeing requires it too.
Feeling tired, physically or mentally? Find some nature. It makes a world of difference.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Nature and the Mind" is part science and part biography. The author liked to talk about his life, like how he got interested in the field of environmental neuroscience and how he applied his findings to his own life. He also told of how the other people that he mentioned got into using nature to positively impact people's mental states. As for the science, he talked about his own research and other related research. He gave details about how the studies were set up, what they found, and how that might be applied to improve people's mood or ability to focus. He's not really into raw nature (as even his nature walks are in man-made and -maintained spaces), so he suggested things like modifying architecture or home spaces to have certain 'natural' elements and what those are. Overall, it was an interesting book.

I received a free ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Wan Shoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This insightful book explores the profound, symbiotic relationship between the human mind and the natural world. It reawakens a long-forgotten appreciation for nature's restorative power, reminding us that the outdoors offers a constant, healing companion through life's ups and downs. The author compellingly supports each exploration of nature's impact with thoroughly conducted experiments, presented in succinct descriptions that eliminate any doubt of biased assessment.

I was particularly struck by the new understanding I gained of nature's 'architecture.' This knowledge has since made me more observant and mindful whenever I am in the wild. For anyone who wonders how to incorporate the undeniable benefits of nature into a busy daily life, this book is an essential guide. I highly recommend it to discover the practical wisdom of weaving the serenity of a nature walk into your own routine.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book with nature and psychology being two of my favourite topics. However, I was very disappointed. Berman does not really have enough content for a book. To make up for this he uses two devices. 1, he is incredibly repetitive, both within and across chapters; on several occasions he repeats himself paragraph after paragraph, resulting in me wanting to throw the book across the room! 2, the book has a high amount of autobiographical content in it which was simply not of interest to me. This would have been better as a long blog post, or for Berman to wait until there is more content in this field to fill a book. I have listened to podcasts he had done, and I found these more interesting.

[Kasandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nature helps us think, process, heal, grieve, learn, focus, and more. This book cites a number of fascinating studies that prove it. I expected to learn more than I did here - not sure if this is because the studies seem kind of naturally intuitive, or if perhaps I'd already absorbed abstracts of some of them in the past. This might have been boiled down to a lengthy paper instead of a book! Note: I won this in a Goodreads Giveaway, and this is my genuine opinion/review (thanks, Goodreads!). A fascinating read that will get you looking for the colors blue and green, curved edges, and fractals in your environment (both natural and built).

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is good but frustrating. I know i have been paying attention to this topic but I keep hearing the same studies repeated over and over and over.

I feel like scientists talk in the past. The world has changed so much. Nobody is paying attention to this topic. Talk about how to address that.

Using AI? HAHHAAH sure. Let's all just shoot ourselves in the foot as we walk!!!

Idk there is such a disconnect between the understanding of this versus application. People simply do not care. This book might as well be a relic.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covered much of its content in a few chapters. The ‘walk in the park’ study was the main event with some interesting side quests into how the brain processes fractals and architectural design. I thought the sentences were abnormally long at times. Not a critique exactly, but an interesting stylistic choice. It’s partly an autobiography and I really just wanted the science. The author also intentionally uses the idea of fractals to repeat content. This may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it makes it more likely you’ll recall earlier studies.

[Talia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This pop-science book confirms what a lot of us kinda already know: nature is good for us. But how? What follows is a series of experiments and findings that show that not only does nature have positive benefits for our bodies, but also for our brains.
That's pretty much the gist of the book. I appreciate that the author tries to make the findings accessible to the reader, but it does get a little repetitive over the course of the book. Also a small criticism about combatting barriers for people getting to nature.

[Cat Lau · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book for its deep dive into the neuroscience behind the benefits of nature. The author’s thorough referencing made the insights feel well-grounded, while the personal connections woven throughout the book made it engaging and relatable. I also appreciated the proactive tips included in each chapter, which made the science applicable to daily life. This is definitely a book I will be turning back to for references and tips as I move forward in facilitating nature-based activities.

[Andrea Wenger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This engaging and easy-to-read book reveals the link between the natural environment and your physical, mental, and social well-being. Discover how more trees on your street can decrease heart disease, a walk in nature can boost attention, and greenspace improves school performance. Drawing on cutting-edge research, this book offers practical strategies to harness the benefits of nature, even indoors.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[June · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book and would have given it 5 stars but about 1/3 of the way in, the author included a couple of chapters that described in detail multiple ways to do studies, text that belonged in a research textbook, not this book so I had to skim over it. Since I do a lot of walking, I enjoyed his comparison of soft fascination vs hard fascination which I often experience. Also he included interesting accounts about Edward O. Wilson and Frederick Olmsted, two scholars I like very much.

[Patti · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found Nature and the Mind too disjointed- part autobiography, part science, lots of anecdotal information. It tries to cover how nature impacts attention, violence, work productivity, grief, mental health, physical health, and social health. It touches on architecture, urban planning, education, and AI. Bottom line – nature is restorative; this book not so much.

[Jim Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book. The author is an academic (I am a retired academic) and you can tell by his writing style. The book is intended for a general audience but the author's style is still somewhat stilted. Hopefully in future books for a general audience his style will become softer.

[Dana Gay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely thought-provoking! I find myself imagining different ways I could use the knowledge in a future practice or with future children. I can't wait to see future research and future ways that this knowledge is put into work in my community!

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I will start using "man with a hammer' as a genre name. I like this man and it's a very pleasingly shaped hammer, with lots of curves and fractals. Wish the book went a bit into the science of it, even just to speculate. As it is it's really shallow and the topic is really fascinating.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unsurprisingly nature is good for us in many ways. This book reviews the research. You don’t even have to like the natural world to benefit from it. For teachers, the chief finding is how a walk through the natural world can improve attention.

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This got a tad scientific and repetitive, but so incredible to think about how much nature can do to improve our lives.

[Maitreya Ravenstar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting….#natureisgood

[Janine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This should be listed as an autobiography because it is all about the author but there is some very good information in it.

[Gary Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

HUG a Tree live longer

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Lily M · Rating 4 out of 5]

It presents very interesting findings, but I found it incredibly repetitive. This could easily have been a magazine article, and instead it has been blown out to a book format.