Experts reveal how air boosts immunity, sleep, energy, and mood...and why stepping outside may be your best health ritual
Close your eyes and think about this: When was the last time you took a deep breath of fresh air and felt an immediate shift in your mood and outlook? It’s a sensation long associated with the ease of country life living, where wide-open spaces, slower days, and a closeness to the outdoors make that feeling almost second nature. Without realizing it, what happened in that moment is that you tapped into the incredible power of fresh air, whether you were standing in the middle of an urban park, on a mountaintop, or gazing at the vast expanse of the ocean.
“After spending much of my life outdoors— walking thousands of miles in the wilderness—and after taking leaders and teams outside for years, I’ve learned that most people are helped simply by being reintroduced to the sky, fresh air, and the spaciousness of living in a larger, natural world,” says Shelli Johnson, a Wyoming-based coach, wilderness guide, and author of Breathtaking: A Field Guide to Living Your Epic Life.
Being outside in nature has long been known to promote health and vitality because it’s where we came from, adds Andrea J. Adams, PhD, a conservation ecologist, who has worked—and lived—outdoors for extended periods of time.
It’s outside in the freshest of air where Adams says she has experienced the most profound sense of wellbeing. “When we step outside, sunlight gives us immunity-boosting vitamin D, and the natural cycles of light and dark help our sleep rhythms,” Adams adds. “The effect scales: The closer we get to nature, the more benefits we experience.”
Haley Parker, a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist at VUIM Clinic in Virginia, calls fresh air one of the most underrated, yet powerful, forms of medicine we have. “From a physiological standpoint, breathing clean, oxygen-rich air improves oxygen delivery to the brain and tissues, supporting cellular energy, immune response, and mental clarity,” she says. “From an integrative and traditional East Asian medicine perspective, fresh air strengthens the lung system (Zhong qi), which governs immunity (Wei qi), breath, and our ability to take in life and release tension—both physically and emotionally.”
And there’s more: Being outside in nature restores health because it reconnects the body with the rhythms it was designed to follow. “Fresh air and deep, intentional breathing nourish the lungs, support immune function of clearing out the gunk on the exhale, and calm the nervous system, allowing the mind and body to come back into harmony,” Parker adds.
Ultimately, there’s a reason the phrase “a breath of fresh air” has been a part of our lexicon since the 18th century and that people sought out fresh air as part of a daily health maintenance regimen, Johnson says. “The idea of getting some fresh air originally meant stepping out of a stuffy, polluted, or confined space and inhaling real air—something immediately invigorating and restoring,” she says. “Over time, it became shorthand for anything that feels renewing after something stale or constricting. There’s a wisdom in that phrase that we’ve mostly forgotten.”
Why We Heal When We Step Outside
Even if you spend large portions of your day indoors, the health benefits of stepping outside in-between tasks is well worth it.
“Most of us live in climate-controlled boxes, under artificial light, staring at screens, with Slack pings and HVAC humming in the background,” Johnson says. “It’s no wonder so many people don’t feel well. Our minds and bodies are quietly protesting. Our nervous systems weren’t designed for this.”
Given this reality, we can still bring the outdoors in. Here, Johnson shares four specific powers of fresh air—and how our bodies become positively transformed when we’re breathing it in.
Our breathing changes. In the open air, people naturally breathe more slowly and more deeply, which stimulates the vagus nerve and shifts the body away from a stress- driven state toward a calmer one.
Our stress hormones tend to drop. Lots of time spent outdoors and exposure to fresh air have long been associated with lower cortisol levels and an overall state of reduced physiological stress.
Our heart rate variability (HRV) often improves. HRV—a marker of nervous system flexibility and resilience that many people now track with devices like Oura or Whoop—has been shown to benefit from time spent outside in natural environments.
Our eyes relax. When we look up at the sky or toward a distant horizon, the eye muscles can relax, and we then shift into a calmer, more expansive state of mind. This contrasts to being indoors when we spend hours in near-focus, which keeps the visual system—and the nervous system—subtly activated.