192 Best Of: Why 20 Minutes Outside Really is Perfect (Dr. Kathleen Wolf)

If you’ve picked up an outdoor habit or are tackling the Humans Outside 365 Challenge, you may have puzzled over how much time you want to spend outside every day. 15 minutes? 30 minutes? An hour? Or, like Amy, maybe you’re shooting for 20 consecutive minutes.

When Amy picked that 20 minute goal it was based on a little research she had read about outdoor time “dosage,” combined with picking a time she thought she could actually do. Since that time a host of research has come out about just how much time outside each week is beneficial. In this “best of” episode, social scientist Dr. Kathleen Wolf dives into just how much time outside makes a difference and why. Dr. Wolf is joining us again for another episode in Season 5, so now is the perfect time to catch up on what she told us the first time she came on the show.

Kathy holds a Phd in landscape architecture and environmental psychology from the University of Michigan and now does research at the University of Washington, where she’s spent more than two decades researching the way spending time outside impacts those who do so. That makes her the perfect person for us to talk to on Humans Outside.

Here’s that original episode from 2021.

Connect with this episode:

Learn more about Dr. Kathleen Wolf

Read Dr. Kathleen Wolf’s long term project, “Green Cities: Good Health”

Find Dr. Kathleen Wolf on LinkedIn

Join the Humans Outside Challenge

Follow Humans Outside on Instagram

Follow Humans Outside on Facebook

Some of the good stuff:

[1:49] Dr. Kathleen Wolf’s favorite outdoor space

[4:16] Kathy’s journey to outdoor researcher

[6:58] What the research says about nature making you feel better

[9:24] What the research says about spending 20 minutes outside a day

[12:26] Is Amy too worried about dosage or doing something different every day?

[25:41] Does what you do outside matter?

[28:18] Is some of Amy’s outside time worthless?

[32:23] A Seatac airport secret - shhh don’t tell

[34:56] How people can get the most of their outdoor time

[39:07] Kathy’s favorite and most essential outdoor gear

[43:11] Kathy’s favorite outdoor moment