Views of nature reduce stress levels and speed recovery from illness, injury, or stressful experiences

In a 2001 paper, Howard Frumkin (cited in Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv, 2005) reports that patients recovering from gall bladder surgery whose recovery room had a view of trees went home sooner than those whose rooms faced a brick wall. Similarly, Louv mentions a finding that Michigan “prison inmates whose cells faced a prison courtyard had 24% more illnesses than those whose cells had a view of farmland” (Last Child in the Woods, p. 46).

Sources:
Frumkin, H. (2001). Beyond toxicity: Human health and the natural environment. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 20(3): 234-240.
Louv, R. (2005). Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder. New York: Algonquin Books.