Statewide Collaboration Aims To Get Texans Outdoors For Their Health’s Sake
The Center for Health and Nature studies the wide-ranging health benefits of spending time in nature and is encouraging Texans to get outdoors.
Original article Texas A&M Today By Dorian Martin, Texas A&M University Health Science Center
JUNE 23, 2023
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Researchers increasingly are finding that there are real and long-term health benefits from regularly being outdoors.
These health benefits include improved immune function and mood, as well as lowered cortisol levels and blood pressure levels, according
to Dr. Jay Maddock, Regents Professor at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health.
Now Maddock and the Center for Health and Nature — a collaboration between Texas A&M Health, Houston Methodist and Texan by Nature
— have received a grant from the REI Cooperative Action Fund, which supports groups that promote getting out in nature and provides seed
money to encourage scientific research.
The center will use the funds to create a statewide health and nature collaborative to connect researchers, practitioners, landowners and
conservationists during the next two years. These funds will extend the center’s efforts to study the healing power of nature and
encourage people to get outdoors.
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