What the research really tells us about nature, wellbeing and starting school.
Your child has spent the summer deciding when they eat, when they play, where they go and what they do.
And then September arrives.
All of a sudden, they are being told to:
Wake up at this time.
Get dressed.
Get in the car.
Say goodbye.
Sit here.
Listen now.
Wait your turn.
Stop playing.
Move to the next thing.
That’s a lot of regulation for a small person.
When we talk about children struggling with these changes, we often hear the word regulation. But regulation isn’t simply about being calm. A regulated child may be running, climbing, talking excitedly, or completely absorbed in something.
It’s about being able to manage and respond to what is happening around us. Children are still developing those skills.
Starting school asks a lot of them: navigating a new environment, following instructions (my son has a particular dislike to this one), waiting their turn, dealing with noise and other sensory experiences, concentrating, managing frustration, and doing things they simply would rather not.
That’s a lot for a brain that is still developing!
So, if children are constantly being asked to adapt to their surroundings, could some environments make that easier to process than others? And could nature be one of them?
We often hear that getting outside in nature is good for our mental health. “Go for a walk”, “get some fresh air”, “go outside and clear your head”.
But is there any science behind it?
The answer is yes…probably.
There is some very promising evidence, but it’s more complex than simple stating “Nature makes us feel better”.
Does nature really make us feel better?
Researchers have been asking various versions of this question for quite some time.
The difficulty is that “nature” can mean a lot of different things. One study might look at the amount of greenspace around someone’s home, while another might investigate the effects of gardening, outdoor exercise, or nature-based therapy.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a study that is called “Does nature improve mental health: yes or no”.
Instead, we have lots of smaller pieces of the puzzle, which start to give us a picture of what might be happening.
In adults, systematic reviews have found promising evidence that nature-based outdoor activities can improve outcomes such as anxiety, depressive mood, and measures of positive and negative mood.
But those activities are not simply sitting in nature, they often include movement, social interaction and doing something purposeful.
So, nature is probably not doing all the work.
What we do in nature matters just as much as being in it.
This feels particularly relevant when we are thinking about children.
Think about what might happen when you let a child loose outside. They might run, climb, dig, pick something up, or they might spend 10 minutes watching an ant.
They are moving. They are exploring. They are making decisions. They are using their senses. They are paying attention to things because they want to.
And perhaps most importantly, they are often in charge of what happens next.
That’s quite different from a day at school.
At school, adults decide when it’s time to listen, when it’s time to stop, where you need to be and what you need to do next. There’s nothing wrong with that. These are valuable skills children need to learn. But having opportunities to make their own choices matters too.
Perhaps this is part of what natural environments can offer: movement, sensory experiences, attention, social interaction and autonomy.
There are still plenty of questions around which of these things matters most.
Nature doesn’t have to be green.
When we talk about nature, we often picture trees, but nature doesn’t have to be green.
Researchers are increasingly interested in blue spaces too – things like rivers, lakes and, perhaps most obviously, the coast.
Personally, I feel most regulated around water.
A 2026 systematic evidence map identified 139 studies looking at specific types or characteristics of blue space and mental health, with coastal environments being the most frequently studied. The researchers found a growing body of evidence but also highlighted how difficult it is to compare studies because they measure both “nature” and mental health in very different ways.
Starting to see a pattern here?
We can’t yet say whether one environment is better than another, or exactly which characteristics might be responsible for any benefits.
The more useful question would be “what does this environment allow a child to do?”
Researchers are beginning to ask this question in schools too. A 2024 systematic review of school-led greenspace interventions found some encouraging evidence for improvements in children’s positive mood, physical activity and social relationships; although the findings weren’t universally positive and more research is needed.
It doesn’t mean that putting a few trees in a playground will magically solve children’s mental health, but it does give us another piece of the puzzle.
And it brings me to something I think most parents will recognise, the dreaded after-school meltdown.
They’ve apparently been an absolute joy all day.
Then you get home.
They don’t want to take their shoes off. They don’t want dinner. They definitely don’t want to tell you about their day. And the wrong colour cup is suddenly the worst thing that has ever happened to them.
I wouldn’t blame you for thinking “What on earth is wrong with you”.
I know I have!
But really, we should be asking “what have they had to manage today?”
They’ve spent hours listening, following instructions, waiting, stopping and starting, and dealing with a whole load of things that adults have decided are happening next.
Now they’re home, somewhere that feels familiar and safe, and maybe they finally have the space where to let some of it out – and unfortunately for us parents, we’re on the other side of it.
Instead of only trying to stop the meltdown, perhaps we also need to think about what might help them recover from everything they’ve had to manage throughout the day.
Maybe they need to run around the garden. Maybe they want to dig, look for bugs or climb. Maybe they want to walk to the park. Maybe they want to sit beside the water and watch the waves. Maybe they don’t want to do anything at all.
That is where I think the research leaves us with a really interesting possibility.
Nature isn’t a regulation button.
But it can provide the conditions in which regulation becomes a little easier.
We still don’t know exactly how much time outdoors is beneficial, which environments are most helpful, or whether it is nature itself or the things we tend to do in nature that make the difference.
And we certainly shouldn’t turn “go outside” into a replacement for proper mental-health support when a child is struggling.
But the evidence is promising.
So, maybe nature doesn’t need to fix anything. Maybe it simply needs to give children somewhere to move, explore, make choices, notice things, connect with others and recover from the demands of their day.
As September approaches, that feels like something worth remembering.
Because sometimes a child doesn’t need another activity, another instruction or another question about their day.
Sometimes they might just need a muddy puddle.