During the pandemic, when we were sheltering in place and the world felt like it was closing in, I discovered something that surprised me: being at home did not have to mean staying inside.

Hubby and I started spending so much more time outdoors. I took Zoom calls from the deck. I started taking daily walks - sometimes two or three times a day. I paid more attention to my flower beds and our garden. I watched the trees bud in the spring and the leaves fall when the seasons changed. When it snowed, I grabbed my coat, took pictures, and helped shovel the driveway.

Sometimes I simply went outside barefoot - feet on the ground, face to the sky.

I waved at neighbors passing by on the walking trail. Small things, honey. But somehow those small things made life feel better. The days felt less heavy, and I didn't feel quite so crushed by everything happening around us.

What started as something we did just to cope became something we continued because it genuinely made us feel good. We still take our morning walks today.

Looking back, I realize I was doing more than just getting out of the house. I was giving my mind a change of scenery, my body a reason to move, and myself a chance to reconnect with the world around me. I didn't call it a nature prescription then. I just knew I felt better when I got outside. Now I'm learning that far more was happening in my brain during those walks than I ever realized.

Let's talk about attention for a moment - because this part really spoke to me.

Think about how much we ask of our attention every single day. Phones ringing. Notifications popping. Televisions playing in the background. Emails to answer, social media to scroll, conversations to follow, appointments to remember, and dinner to figure out - all at the same time. Our brains are constantly making decisions:

Pay attention to this. Ignore that. Remember this. Stay focused.

All of that takes real mental energy. Research led by Berman has found that spending time in natural environments helps restore our ability to focus and direct our attention. Nature captures our attention more gently than busy urban environments, giving the parts of our brain responsible for focused attention a chance to actually rest and recover.

That landed for me. Because when women come to me saying they are struggling with concentration, mental fatigue, or brain fog, our first thought is often: Something must be wrong with my memory. And maybe something is worth checking out. And sometimes? The brain may simply be overloaded. Worn out. Running on empty.

And one of the most accessible things we can do for an overloaded brain is change its environment.

Trees. Gardens. Parks. Grass. Flowers. Walking trails.

These are not just pretty things to look at, beloved. A growing body of research has found connections between exposure to green space and several aspects of health - including mental well-being, physical activity, and cognitive functioning.

Research involving middle-aged women specifically found that living around more green space was associated with better processing speed, better attention, and stronger overall cognitive function. That is worth sitting with for a moment.

Researchers are still studying exactly how strong these connections are and what drives them. What we do know is that our surroundings appear to be one more meaningful piece of the brain-health puzzle. And as we move through our 50s, 60s, and beyond, that matters.

Berman also writes about blue spaces - environments where water is part of the picture. Lakes, rivers, streams, the ocean. Even simply sitting somewhere with a view of water.

A growing body of research connects exposure to blue spaces with positive mental health and well-being. Researchers are still working to understand exactly why, but physical activity, stress reduction, and the restorative qualities of water environments all appear to play a role.

And I don't know about you - but being near water is my happy place.

There is something about looking at water that just feels different. My shoulders drop. My thoughts slow down. My creative juices start flowing again. I breathe differently. Deeper. Slower. More like myself. Sometimes I don't need a study to tell me why. I just know.

Here is another reason I love the idea of a nature prescription - it touches more than just the mind.

Getting outside naturally encourages us to do other things that support healthy aging. We move. A walk around the block is still a walk. Tending a flower bed still counts as movement. Strolling through a park gets us off the couch and into life.

We also connect. Remember those neighbors I waved to during the pandemic? We weren't having long conversations. Sometimes it was nothing more than a smile and a nod. But it was connection. And connection matters more than we often give it credit for.

Parks, walking trails, community gardens, front porches, and outdoor spaces all create natural opportunities to see and interact with other people. Research on nature exposure increasingly points to physical, mental, and social benefits working together - not separately.

As a woman of faith, I cannot read about the effects of nature on the brain without thinking about how often God takes us outside in His Word.

Gardens. Mountains. Rivers. Trees. Fields. Still waters. The wilderness.

God certainly meets people anywhere He chooses. And yet so many of the most profound biblical encounters happened in natural places. The burning bush. The Garden of Gethsemane. The shores of Galilee. The Jordan River.

Psalm 23 doesn't say, He makes me lie down beside my laptop.

It says:

"He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul."

Green pastures. Still waters. Restoration.

I have memorized that scripture and spoken it out loud more times than I can count. Read those words again and sit with them a little differently today. Maybe creation was never meant to be something we only admired through a window. Maybe spending time in it is one of the simple, Spirit-led ways we care for the minds and bodies God entrusted to us.

I am not asking you to buy hiking boots or plan a trip to a national park. Start right where you are.

For the next seven days, spend 20 minutes outside on purpose.

Take your morning coffee to the porch. Walk around the block. Sit under a shade tree. Work in your flower bed. Visit a nearby park. Walk along a lake if one is close to you. Look up at the clouds. Listen to the birds. And for at least part of that time, put the phone in your pocket.

Then pay attention to something we rarely slow down enough to notice:

How does your mind feel afterward? Do you feel calmer? Clearer? Less rushed? More like yourself?

You do not have to wait until something feels wrong with your memory before you start creating an environment that supports your brain health. Sometimes caring for your brain looks like stepping outside, breathing fresh air, and letting God's creation do what it was always meant to do.

The prescription we have been overlooking may have been right outside our door all along.

Blessings,

Dr. Janice R. Love