Winter with sno on a mire with ski tracks
Photo Elisabet Bohlin

Snow and winter

Page reviewed:  19/05/2026

Research on how we feel when we are outside in snow-covered nature

There isn´t much research about this but there are some examples. In Finland, for example, researchers found that the mood of study participants staying in a forest with snow-covered trees improved more that those staying in a snow-covered urban environment (Bielines et al. 2021), and that snow in nature has a calming effect. In Poland, one study showed that even a thin blanket of snow on the ground decreased psychological stress (Bielines et 2019). Another study suggested that young men who walked in a snow-covered park in winter felt both physically and mentally better after the walk (Song et al 2013).

/Text: Ann Dolling

Bielinis E, Janeczko E, Takayama N, Zawadzka A, Słupska A, Piętka S, et al. (2021) The effects of viewing a winter forest landscape with the ground and trees covered in snow on the psychological relaxation of young Finnish adults: A pilot study. PLoS ONE 16:e0244799. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244799

Bielinis E, Łukowski A, Omelan A, Boiko S, Takayama N, Grebner DL (2019) The effect of recreation in a snow-covered forest environment on the psychological wellbeing of young adults: Randomized controlled study. Forests 10:827. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f10100827

Song C, Joung D, Ikei H, Igarashi M, Aga M, Park B-J, Miwa M, Takagaki M, Miyazaki Y (2013) Physiological and psychological effects of walking on young males in urban parks in winter. Journal of Physiological Anthropology 32:18. https://doi.org/10.1186/1880-6805-32-18