Nature‐Based Physical Activity to Enhance Mental Health and Wellbeing: A Scoping Review to Identify Recommendations for Applied Practice

The negative impact of low levels of physical activity upon global health and wellbeing has been consistently observed and emphasized. These negative impacts are magnified for individuals with mental ill‐health, resulting in a higher prevalence of physical comorbidities and reduced life expectancy compared to the general population (Chan et al. 2023). An approach to supporting the promotion of physical activity for people with mental ill‐health is physical activity in the natural environment (e.g., Barton and Rogerson 2017; White et al. 2019). Previous research has demonstrated the associated benefits of physical activity in nature (e.g., Barton and Rogerson 2017; Jimenez et al. 2021), however, to date there are no published applied guidelines to support the inclusion of physical activity in nature as a restorative and preventative measure for people with mental ill‐health. Thus, in this study we aimed to identify current practical recommendations for physical activity in nature for enhancing mental health and wellbeing. To achieve the aim, a scoping review of reviews was conducted, from which 919 manuscripts were identified, 54 full‐texts screened, and 18 full‐texts reviewed. Following analysis, six recommendations were developed relating to: natural environment, activity type, program duration, session duration, social interaction, and target populations. The developed set of recommendations can be used as a guide to support physical activity in nature and acts as a foundation for future guidelines and applied interventions into nature‐based physical activity for restorative and preventative approaches to enhance the mental health and wellbeing of people with mental ill‐health.