Going Outside Can Change Our Hormones and Improve Microbiome Diversity

Going outside has many benefits, from positively affecting our nervous system to diversifying our microbiome. But you don’t need a forest preserve to benefit from nature—sometimes even a houseplant or the smell of lavender can improve our life. Kathy Willis, a professor of biodiversity at the University of Oxford, joins host Rachel Feltman to discuss her new book Good Nature: Why Seeing, Smelling, Hearing, and Touching Plants Is Good for Our Health. Willis suggests ways for even city dwellers to reap the benefits of nature, such as strolling through urban parks or keeping plants in their office.

Read Willis’s book: Good Nature: Why Seeing, Smelling, Hearing, and Touching Plants Is Good for Our Health (Pegasus Books, 2024)

Listen to our previous episodes about plants: Do Plants ‘Think’? We Might Not Know Enough about Consciousness to Be Certain How to Grow Your Houseplant Collection Ethically

E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Kathy Willis. Our show is edited by Fonda Mwangi with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices