Restoring Land and Mind: The Benefits of an Outdoor Walk on Mood Are Enhanced in a Naturalized Landfill Area Relative to Its Neighboring Urban Area

Although landfills are being converted into green spaces, little is known about how such areas affect mood, cognition, and physiology. Using a within-subject experimental design (n = 31 men), we found that walking through a naturalized landfill improved mood more than did walking through an adjacent urban area. Both walks improved energy and attentional control and decreased concentrations of cortisol (a marker of stress). One's sense of connectedness with nature moderated the effects of the walks on mood: For men reporting high nature connectedness, mood improved after both walks. For men reporting low nature connectedness, positive mood increased after the naturalized landfill walk and decreased after the urban walk. Follow-up analyses indicated that differential perceptual attentiveness to subtle natural or green features may explain this moderation. Thus, naturalized landfills may enhance the benefits of walking on mood, and nature connectedness may buffer against the harmful effects of urbanization.