Nature & Aging

Meta-analyses have documented improvements in both cognitive control in nature (Ohly et al., 2016; Stevenson et al., 2018), as well as increases in the parasympathetic “rest and digest” system (Cheng et al., 2021) in younger adults. Yet, to our knowledge, no one has systematically examined how spending time in nature affects the aging population. Both cognitive control and autonomic functioning are important in the process of healthy cognitive aging (Mather & Koenig, 2021), and therefore, older adults may especially benefit from nature interventions. We seek ultimately to answer the question: can nature exposure slow cognitive aging? However, we will begin with the following questions:

Current Research Questions:

1. Does nature exposure increase heart-rate variability in older adults? Increased high-frequency heart-rate variability is associated with increases in parasympathetic nervous system activity (i.e. rest and digest), which may have positive effects on aging (Mather & Koenig, 2021). Yet, to our knowledge, no one has directly examined whether HRV increases in response to nature exposure.
2. Does it improve cognitive control in older adults? Similarly, attention and cognitive control abilities decline in aging (e.g., Salthouse, 2004). While previous research has demonstrated improvements in cognitive control in nature (Ohly et al., 2016; Stevenson et al., 2018), to our knowledge, no one has specifically examined whether this is the case for older adults.