The 3-day effect

The three-day effect is the name given to what happens after we spend three days or more in nature.

Spending three days or more in nature appears to reset our attention and improve mood, wellbeing, and mental clarity.

River rafting guide Ken Sanders noted the three-day effect after seeing a marked change in the groups he led on the third day of a river journey. By the third day, the river becomes the reality of the travelers, and their old reality fades away, Sanders explains.

Since that original observation, cognitive neuroscientist David Strayer has conducted studies that measured increases in participants' creativity and problem-solving ability after three or more days in nature. We start to think more clearly.

As we spend more time on phones, laptops and digital devices, many of us spend less time outdoors in nature. Perhaps it’s time to schedule a trip, turn our devices off, and experience the three-day effect ourselves. The benefits we are missing out on may be significant.

As Ken Sanders says:

"I think it takes the first two days and nights to wash away whatever veneer of civilization you have brought with you. The new reality begins on that third day."

Related ideas about the benefits of nature

• No doubt similar things at work to the magic of forest bathing.
• 5 Ways to wellbeing
• Uitwaaien
• Solvitur ambulando

More about the 3 day effect at National Geographic: This is your brain on Nature and REI: The Nature Fix .

Updated from the original for my book Big Ideas Little Pictures