Do you know that relaxed sense you get when you spend time outdoors, feeling the sun or even sprinkles of rain on your face? Could that feeling really be tied to better health? Several studies seem to affirm that connection between a healthy environment and your physical wellbeing.
Reducing your risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and depression has a real connection to your time in the outdoors, according to several studies summed up recently by the Nature Conservancy in a 2026 special report called Nature’s Dividends. This seems to be true for adults and children, as the report explains here:
“The American Academy of Pediatrics has drawn attention to the importance of playing outdoors for children’s physical and mental health. Instead of spending time outside, the average American child spends five to eight hours a day in front of a screen, and this disconnection from nature has major impacts on health.”
Here in East Tennessee, the programs at historic Crawford House are already offering big doses of time in nature, as explained in a recent presentation by the program founder to Knox Climate Watch. We shared here about his talk on the outdoors as medicine.
Another environmental effect on human health seems to be higher nighttime temperatures due to climate change. Climate Central reports that higher recorded heat overnight means some folks are actually losing sleep, and that brings its own health risks. The group uses the Climate Shift Index to explain how changing global average temperatures relate to daily temperatures you experience locally. Of course, those with air conditioning don’t feel the temperature extremes as drastically as the huge portion of global citizens without this luxury.
All of these health and environment studies share a central concern for preserving green spaces and curbing climate change for the sake of human health.
Anne Brock-Rankin is Marketing Coordinator for Solar Alliance, a renewable energy company based in Knoxville. She can be reached at abrock@solaralliance.com.
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