5 min read Spending 20 minutes in nature is the minimum time needed to noticeably feel nature’s calming effects. To maximize nature’s stress-relieving effects, experts recommend the 20-5-3 rule. This involves 20 minutes in green space three times a week, 5 hours in semi-wild environments once a month, and 3 days off-grid once a year. If you can’t spend time outdoors, research suggests that indoor plants may still offer a number of mental and physical health benefits. B ACK IN 2016 , Manny Almonte joined some friends on a camping trip to Lake George in the Adirondacks of upstate New York. Almonte had grown up in the Dominican Republic, so he’d known nature. But since moving to New York City in the mid-’90s, he hadn’t experienced the powerful restorative benefits bestowed by time in the wild. That camping trip unlocked something for him: Nature was a potent mental health tool—one not tapped by many people.…