Why Workers Should Go Take A Hike

I was recently speaking with one of my former students about the decisions that leaders are facing as they bring employees back to the office on a full-time or hybrid basis. This student remarked that one overlooked benefit of working from home is that it gives employees the ability to access the outdoors during the workday.

He described how his remote workdays included moments in which he was able to go into his backyard and enjoy a nature break—something he could never do when he was in the office all the time. He said these outdoor respites left him feeling more refreshed than his indoor breaks.

His observations resonated with me, because they aligned with my own research about the intersection of the worlds of work and nature, and with the compelling evidence that exposure to nature provides myriad benefits to individuals—benefits that don’t stop when the workday begins.

The link to the current discussion about remote and hybrid work is obvious: Employees who hold jobs that are able to be made hybrid—namely office workers—are the same group of workers who often have limited access to nature during their workdays in sealed buildings. Moreover, given that these buildings are often located in urban areas, even when employees are able to get outside, the quality of their exposure to nature is often low, occurring alongside distractions that impede the enjoyment of nature, like traffic noise.

This is where flexible work comes in. When employees work from home, they can open their windows and breathe in fresh air. In between video calls, they can step outside and feel the breeze and hear birds. After lunch, they can take a walk to a nearby park, or work outdoors for a few hours. In short, in ways small and large, working remotely permits deeper immersion in nature compared with being in the office.

And this immersion matters. Contact with nature improves people’s moods, sharpens people’s cognitive abilities, makes them more cooperative, reduces burnout and enhances employees’ productivity. By allowing workers more meaningful access to nature through flexible work schedules, leaders provide employees with a work arrangement that facilitates higher well-being and performance.

These nature-based benefits of flexible work for workers and organizations take on added value considering recent research has shown that exposure to nature outside of work hours can contribute to employee performance when they return to work. In one study, my co-authors and I provided evidence that to the extent that employees spent time outdoors before and after work, they were in better moods when they arrived at work, which fueled higher work effort later in the day. This suggests that contact with nature not only has the potential to enhance employees’ well-being and performance while they work remotely, but to also positively affects their feelings and behaviours when they return to the office.

Companies, of course, could also redesign their in-person workspaces to provide employees with deeper immersion in nature—something many companies are embracing by adding such things as windows that open, green spaces on rooftops, and hiking trails on corporate campuses. But such efforts, while valuable, are expensive. It is much less costly—and quicker—to incorporate remote work into employees’ schedules.

One final benefit of bringing employees into deeper contact with nature relates to organizational sustainability efforts. In particular, there is an emerging link between employees’ contact with nature and their subsequent engagement in sustainability-related behaviours. Research shows that when individuals come into contact with nature in a given week, they are more likely to engage in sustainability-related behaviours that may be in alignment with organizational sustainability goals when they get back indoors.

A couple of caveats are warranted. First, individuals differ in the extent to which they like the outdoors; investments in contact with nature will likely have little effect on employees who feel no connection to the natural world. In addition, however beneficial interactions with nature are, they can’t make up for serious job deficiencies in terms of things like fair pay and respectful treatment. It would ring hollow and backfire to tell overworked employees to simply go outdoors to avoid their impending burnout.

There are no one-size-fits-all answers when it comes to redesigning jobs in a postpandemic era. But when weighing the benefits of hybrid work and other flexible work arrangements, leaders shouldn’t forget part of the answer can be found just outside their doors.

For some vacationers, the ideal getaway involves $1,200 ozone therapy or an $1,800 early-detection cancer test.

Call it the longevity vacation. People who are fixated on optimising their personal health are pursuing travel activities that they hope will help them stay healthier for longer. It is part of a broader interest in longevity that often extends beyond traditional medicine . These costly trips and treatments are rising in popularity as money pours into the global wellness travel market.

At high-end resorts, guests can now find biological age testing, poolside vitamin IV drips, and stem-cell therapy. Prices can range from hundreds of dollars for shots and drips to tens of thousands for more invasive procedures, which go well beyond standard wellness offerings like yoga, massages or facials.

Some longevity-inspired trips focus on treatments, while others focus more on social and lifestyle changes. This includes programs that promise to teach travellers the secrets of centenarians .

Mark Blaskovich, 66 years old, spent $4,500 on a five-night trip last year centred on lessons from the world’s “Blue Zones,” places including Sardinia, Italy, and Okinawa, Japan, where a high number of people live for at least 100 years. Blaskovich says he wanted to get on a healthier path as he started to feel the effects of ageing.

He chose a retreat at Modern Elder Academy in Mexico, where he attended workshops detailing the power of supportive relationships, embracing a plant-based diet and incorporating natural movement into his daily life.

“I’ve been interested in longevity and trying to figure out how to live longer and live healthier,” says Blaskovich.

Vitamins and ozone

When Christy Menzies noticed nurses behind a curtained-off area at the Four Seasons Resort Maui in Hawaii on a family vacation in 2022, she assumed it might be Covid-19 testing. They were actually injecting guests with vitamin B12.

Menzies, 40, who runs a travel agency, escaped to the longevity clinic between trips to the beach, pool and kids’ club, where she reclined in a leather chair, and received a 30-minute vitamin IV infusion.

“You’re making investments in your wellness, your health, your body,” says Menzies, who adds that she felt more energised afterward.

The resort has been expanding its offerings since opening a longevity centre in 2021. A multi-day treatment package including ozone therapy, stem-cell therapy and a “fountain of youth” infusion, costs $44,000. Roughly half a dozen guests have shelled out for that package since it made its debut last year, according to Pat Makozak, the resort’s senior spa director. Guests can also opt for an early-detection cancer blood test for $1,800.

The ozone therapy, which involves withdrawing blood, dissolving ozone gas into it, and reintroducing it into the body through an IV, is particularly popular, says Makozak. The procedure is typically administered by a registered nurse, takes upward of an hour and costs $1,200.

Longevity vacationers are helping to fuel the global wellness tourism market, which is expected to surpass $1 trillion in 2024, up from $439 billion in 2012, according to the nonprofit Global Wellness Institute. About 13% of U.S. travellers took part in spa or wellness activities while traveling in the past 12 months, according to a 2023 survey from market-research group Phocuswright.

Canyon Ranch, which has multiple wellness resorts across the country, earlier this year introduced a five-night “Longevity Life” program, starting at $6,750, that includes health-span coaching, bone-density scans and longevity-focused sessions on spirituality and nutrition.

The idea is that people will return for an evaluation regularly to monitor progress, says Mark Kovacs, the vice president of health and performance.

What doctors say

Doctors preach caution, noting many of these treatments are unlikely to have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, producing a placebo effect at best and carrying the potential for harm at worst. Procedures that involve puncturing the skin, such as ozone therapy or an IV drip, risk possible infection, contamination and drug interactions.

“Right now there isn’t a single proven treatment that would prolong the life of someone who’s already healthy,” says Dr. Mark Loafman, a family-medicine doctor in Chicago. “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Some studies on certain noninvasive wellness treatments, like saunas or cold plunges , do suggest they may help people feel less stressed, or provide some temporary pain relief or sleep improvement.

Linda True, a policy analyst in San Francisco, spent a day at RAKxa, a wellness retreat on a visit to family in Thailand in February. True, 46, declined the more medical-sounding offerings, like an IV drip, and opted for a traditional style of Thai massage that involved fire and is touted as a “detoxification therapy.”

“People want to spend money on things that they feel might be doing good,” says Dr. Tamsin Lewis, medical adviser at RoseBar Longevity at Six Senses Ibiza, a longevity club that opened last year, whose menu includes offerings such as cryotherapy, infrared sauna and a “Longevity Boost” IV.

RoseBar says there is good evidence that reducing stress contributes to longevity, and Lewis says she doesn’t offer false promises about treatments’ efficacy . Kovacs says Canyon Ranch uses the latest science and personal data to help make evidence-based recommendations.

Jaclyn Sienna India owns a membership-based, ultra luxury travel company that serves people whose net worth exceeds $100 million, many of whom give priority to longevity, she says. She has planned trips for clients to Blue Zones, where there are a large number of centenarians. On one in February, her company arranged a $250,000 weeklong stay for a family of three to Okinawa that included daily meditation, therapeutic massages and cooking classes, she says.

India says keeping up with a longevity-focused lifestyle requires more than one treatment and is cost-prohibitive for most people.

Doctors say travellers may be more likely to glean health benefits from focusing on a common vacation goal : just relaxing.

Dr. Karen Studer, a physician and assistant professor of preventive medicine at Loma Linda University Health says lowering your stress levels is linked to myriad short- and long-term health benefits.

“It may be what you’re getting from these expensive treatments is just a natural effect of going on vacation, decreasing stress, eating better and exercising more.”

Why Workers Should Go Take A Hike

The ability to be outside is a powerful argument for a hybrid workplace. It can improve well-being, as well as productivity, research shows.

The latest trend in wellness travel is somewhere between a spa trip and a doctor’s appointment

Vitamins and ozone

What doctors say