Your Prescription Is to Get Outside, US Doctors Say "Find a shady spot under a tree, take a breath of fresh air and call me in the morning." Health care providers have long suggested that stressed-out patients spend time outdoors. Now, hundreds of US providers are going a step further and giving formal prescriptions to get outside. Of course, no one needs a prescription to go outside. But some doctors think that it helps people take it seriously. "When I bring it up, it is almost like granting permission to do something they may see as frivolous," said Dr. Suzanne Hackenmiller, an Iowa doctor who has started giving nature prescriptions. Spending time in natural areas can lower blood pressure, reduce stress hormones and increase immunity, studies have found. And starting about a decade ago, US health care providers began formalizing suggestions to get outside through prescriptions. Dr. Robert Zarr, who also works as a nature guide, started an organization called Park Rx America around 2016, offering rules for giving prescriptions for time in nature. Doctors should talk with patients about what they like to do outside — walking, sitting under a tree, maybe just watching leaves fall — how often to do it and where to go. That all then gets included in a prescription, and Park Rx America sends patients reminders to do what they've been told. Nearly 2,000 providers have registered with the organization across the US and a number of other countries, including Australia, Brazil, Cameroon and Spain. They've given more than 7,000 nature prescriptions since 2019, said Dr. Stacy Beller Stryer, Park Rx America's associate medical director. And about 100 other similar organizations have started around the US, she said. The effectiveness of formal nature prescriptions is unclear, however. A 2020 study between the US Forest Service and two American universities found that more work was needed to see whether people actually follow their doctors' prescriptions, as well as the long-term health effects of doing so.