Plan your 120 minutes.
Seven sliders, one for each day, add up your week in nature and fill a ring towards the 120 minutes that a survey of 19,806 adults linked to good health and high wellbeing. You see the total, the days outside, the smallest change that reaches the target, and a card you can share.
Your 120 minutes, day by day.
Slide each day to the minutes you plan to spend in a park, a wood, a garden or by water. The ring fills as your week adds up towards the 120-minute threshold, and the panel names the smallest change that reaches it.
Where you mostly go
Minutes by day
Steps of 5 minutes, up to 120 minutes a day. Tap a number for a quick entry, tap it again to clear the day.
Nothing planned yet. Four visits of 30 minutes, or two of 60, reach the 120.
Past 300 minutes the survey saw no further gain. The extra time is a pleasure, not a target.
How it works.
- Slide each day from 0 to 120 minutes in steps of 5, or tap 15, 30 or 60 for a quick entry, and pick where you mostly go: park, forest, water or garden.
- Watch the ring fill towards 120 minutes. The panel shows the total, the days outside, the longest visit and the smallest change that reaches the dose.
- Save the card or share it. Your week stays in this browser, so you can come back and adjust it on any day.
Where the 120 minutes come from
The figure comes from a study led by Mathew White, published in Scientific Reports in 2019. It used the Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment survey, in which 19,806 adults in England reported how much time they had spent in parks, woodland, on beaches and in open countryside during the previous 7 days. People who reached at least 120 minutes were markedly more likely to report good health and high wellbeing than people with no nature time, and below 120 minutes the survey found no clear difference. The association peaked at around 200 to 300 minutes and then flattened. It made no difference whether the minutes came in one long visit or several short ones, and the pattern held across sex, age, long-term illness and income groups. The guide to the 120 minutes covers the study in detail.
What counts as nature
The survey counted deliberate visits to parks, woods, coast and countryside. The dose is measured in minutes, not kilometres, and it does not depend on exercise: people who fell short of the activity guidelines showed the same association as people who met them. Private gardens were not part of the survey figure, but gardening has evidence of its own. A 2017 pooled analysis of 22 studies linked it to lower scores for depression and anxiety, which is why the planner offers it as a place; the gardening guide weighs it separately. Forest time has the strongest physiological data. In a 2010 Japanese series, 280 volunteers walked in 24 forests and in matched city settings; after the forest walk, salivary cortisol was about 12% lower and pulse rate about 6% lower. The forest bathing guide explains what those measurements can and cannot show. For cities, the World Health Organization reviewed urban green space in 2016 and concluded that access supports mental health, physical activity and relief from heat; its planning indicator asks for a green area of at least 0.5 hectares within 300 metres of every home, as the green space guide summarises.
What this tool is not
The 120-minute figure is an association from self-reported data, collected for one week per person, not a controlled trial, so it cannot prove that nature time causes better health. People who feel well may simply go outside more. The planner adds up minutes you enter yourself, compares them with the survey threshold and suggests the smallest change that reaches it. It does not diagnose anything and it does not replace medical advice. Treat 120 minutes as a useful marker, and the minutes past 300 as a pleasure rather than a task.
Frequently asked.
Do the 120 minutes have to come in one visit?
No. In the survey the association with good health and wellbeing was the same whether the time came in one long visit or in several short ones. Four visits of 30 minutes count as much as a single two-hour walk.
Does a walk through the park on the way to work count?
The survey counted deliberate visits to green and blue places, so a purposeful detour through the park counts. A glance at a tree from the bus does not, and the planner asks you to enter only time you actually spend there.
Do I have to exercise while I am outside?
No. People who fell short of the activity guidelines showed the same association as people who met them. Sitting on a bench by the water for 30 minutes counts as 30 minutes.
Does my own garden count?
The survey did not count time in a private garden, so the 120-minute figure rests on parks, woods, coast and countryside. Gardening has separate evidence for mood and physical activity, which is why the planner offers it as a place; count it if it gets you outdoors.
What happens if I plan more than 300 minutes?
The ring stays full and a note appears. The survey saw the association level off at about 200 to 300 minutes a week, so time beyond that is a pleasure rather than a target.
Where is my week stored?
In your own browser only, under a single storage key. Nothing is sent anywhere, and the Reset button clears it.
Guides behind this tool
Nature
120 minutes in nature a week: the threshold and the ceiling
Nature
Forest bathing: what the studies measure
Nature
Green space and mental health: what the numbers say
Nature
Gardening: exercise, therapy, or both?More tools
This planner adds up minutes you enter yourself and keeps them in your browser. It is not a prescription, not a diagnosis and not a measure of your health; the 120-minute figure is an association from survey data, not a proven cause. This page is for general information and does not replace medical advice.