There are dozens of handy numerical heuristics intended to help us live more fulfilling lives (the 2-minute rule for productivity and the 10-3-2-1-0 rule for sleep spring to mind). With all those figures floating around in the wellness paradigm, it can be tricky to recall what means what, but the 20-5-3 rule is one guideline you should consider committing to memory.
Created by researcher Rachel Hopman-Droste, the science-backed framework prescribes certain amounts of time we should all spend outdoors to reduce stress and boost well-being. We already know just how impactful nature is on mental and physical health, so think of the rule as a simple blueprint for turning that awareness into action.
It’s essentially a distilled version of the Nature Pyramid, developed at the University of Virginia and designed to serve a similar purpose to that of the food pyramid, prioritizing different types and amounts of nature exposure.
Here’s how the 20-5-3 rule breaks down:
- 20 minutes outside three times a week
- Five hours in semi-wild spaces each month
- Three days fully off-grid per year
The 20-minutes element of the rule should be the easiest to achieve, and plenty of research backs up its benefits, per Dr. Suzanne Hackenmiller, chief medical advisor for outdoor navigation app AllTrails.
“The benefits of time outside kick in faster than most people expect,” Hackenmiller told Reader’s Digest. “Just 20 minutes in a green space measurably improves mood, memory, and cognitive function.” A city park or tree-lined street is a perfect place to get your minutes in.
Spending five hours in semi-wild spaces each month — like at a forested state park — can be trickier but is well worth aiming for. Per Michael Easter, who interviewed Hopman-Droste for his book The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self, a 2005 Finnish survey found that “city dwellers felt better with at least five hours of nature a month, with benefits increasing at higher exposures. They were also more likely to be happier and less stressed in their everyday lives.”
Three days fully off-grid may at first seem hard to manage, but one holiday-weekend camping trip with no phone service checks that box nicely, and it can come with added benefits, like strengthening relationships and fostering life skills (not to mention s’mores).
“This dose of the wildest nature is sort of like an extended meditation retreat,” Easter writes. “Except talking is allowed and there are no gurus. It causes your brain to ride alpha waves, the same waves that increase during meditation or when you lapse into a flow state. They can reset your thinking, boost creativity, tame burnout, and just make you feel better.”
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