Campus Nature Rx
Harnessing the timeless healing power of nature to support wellbeing on NC State's campus.
As college students face rising levels of stress and mental health challenges, there is a need to explore innovative ways to support health and wellbeing on campus. One promising pathway is nature exposure and nature-based recreation.
Connection with nature improves multiple dimensions of health, including mental health, physical health, and cognitive benefits. Campus Nature Rx (CNRx) encourages students to engage with nature, with the ultimate goals of strengthening resilience, fostering health and wellbeing, and building environmentally-minded and sustainable communities.
What is CNRx?
CNRx at NC State is one of more than 100 member institutions in the Campus Nature Rx Network, a coalition of colleges and universities working to improve student mental health. The idea for the network grew out of the book Nature Rx: Improving College-Student Mental Health, which highlighted the profound and positive impact nature can have on student health. CNRx supports inclusive, student-centered engagement, research, and outreach programming at the intersection of nature and wellbeing.
Benefits of nature for health
A growing body of research supports multiple benefits of spending time in nature.
Mental health benefits
- Spending time in nature improves mood, mental health, and emotional wellbeing.
- Feeling connected to nature can produce these benefits, regardless of how much time one spends outdoors.
- Both green spaces and blue spaces (aquatic environments) produce wellbeing benefits. More biodiverse spaces may be particularly helpful, but even urban parks and trees can lead to positive outcomes.
Physical health benefits
- Increased relaxation, reduced muscle tension
- Lowered blood pressure and heart rate
- Increase in Vitamin D synthesis
- Circadian rhythm regulation, leading to improved sleep quality at nigh
Cognitive benefits
- Biophilia – satisfies an innate tendency of humans to seek connections with nature and other forms of life
- Stress reduction – exposure to nature reduces physiological stress and negative emotions faster and more completely than exposure to urban or built environments
- Attention restoration – nature replenishes one’s cognitive resources, restoring the ability to concentrate and pay attention
Ways to Engage
Explore campus green spaces
NC State has more than 50 green spaces on campus. Use the NC State Greenspaces map to find a place to be in nature. Some of our favorites include:
- Lake Raleigh Woods on Centennial Campus
- JC Raulston Arboretum, a nationally acclaimed botanic garden with a diverse collections of plants adapted for the Southeast United States
- Kilgore Garden, outside Kilgore Hall on Central Campus
- Learning Gardens at Rocky Branch Trails, an edible garden between the Carmichael tennis and basketball courts on Central Campus
- Parents Park, the home of SOL Garden behind Fountain Dining Hall on Central Campus
- Pollinator Rooftop Living Lab, on the 5th floor of Talley Student Union
Attend programs and events
Multiple units on campus host programs focused on nature and health or that get students outdoors into natural spaces:
- EcoWellness programs through Prevention Services
- Outdoor Adventure Trips through Wellness and Recreation
- Events at the Agroecology Education Farm
- Sustainability Events
- Self-guided campus tree tours
CNRx will also be launching an event certification program soon – more details to come!
Enroll in nature and health courses
NC State offers a range of undergraduate- and graduate-level courses that explore the connections between nature/the outdoor environment and health and wellbeing. The list below is not necessarily exhaustive, but these courses are great places to begin exploring dimensions of nature and health in an academic context.
| AEC 470 | Urban Ecology |
| ES 425/NR 425 | Water Quality and Health |
| GOH 201 | Foundations of Global One Health |
| GOH 302 | Global One Health Applications |
| HS 420 | Green Infrastructure |
| HS 432 | Introduction to Permaculture |
| PB 407 | Medical Ethnobotany |
| PRT 230 | Foundations of Outdoor Recreation Management |
| PRT 261 | Nature, Health, and Wellnesss |
| PSY 441 | Environmental Psychology |
| SOC 450 | Environmental Sociology |
| NR 203 | Humans and the Environment |
| PRT 510 | Active Recreation and Community Health |
| PRT 550 | Human Behavior and the Environment |
| PRT 575 | Children and Nature |
CNRx at NC State Leadership
Co-director of Environmental Sciences & Associate Teaching Professor, Forestry and Environmental Resources