- 20 minutes outside three times a week
- 5 hours a month spent in semi-wild nature
- 3 days a year off the grid in nature
π The β20-5-3β Rule Prescribes How Much Time You Should Spend Outside
Nature has these effects on the mind and body because it stimulates and soothes us in unusual and unique ways. For instance, in nature you are engulfed in fractals, suggested Hopman. Fractals are complex patterns that repeat over and over in different sizes and scales and make up the design of the universe. Think: trees (big branch to smaller branch to smaller branch and so on), river systems (big river to smaller river to stream and so on), mountain ranges, clouds, seashells. βCities donβt have fractals,β said Hopman. βImagine a typical building. Itβs usually flat, with right angles. Itβs painted some dull color.β Fractals are organized chaos, which our brains apparently dig. In fact, scientists at the University of Oregon discovered that Jackson Pollockβs booze-and-jazz-fueled paintings are made up of fractals. This may explain why they speak to humans at such a core level.