With every step on the trail, fallen leaves crinkle underfoot. The path follows a stream, rushing and burbling over smooth, gray stones, while a breeze rustles the branches overhead. Now compare that blissful mental image to what you might walk past in a city — traffic, crowds, concrete and glass. Which seems better for you?
Walking in nature has been shown to boost physical and mental health, lowering stress and restoring attention. But researchers are finding plenty of mental-health benefits to walking in urban areas, too.
You just have to find the right path and pay attention to your surroundings.
“Look at the green,” said Whitney Fleming, an environmental psychology researcher at Bangor University in Wales, U.K. “Most cities have greenery. No matter where you are, you can find a nice tree.”
She noted that walking — considered moderate exercise — is good for you in general; it can lower the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, dementia, depression and many types of cancer. Walking in nature goes beyond the benefits of physical movement: “Humans have an innate, evolutionary tendency to like nature."
Fleming's research has found that people who were asked to pay attention to plant life while walking were significantly less anxious afterward than those asked to focus on human-made elements. The former group also reported feeling more positive emotions.
“Having natural elements to look at in cities is really important in terms of these effects, because you can still receive benefits even when not in a natural setting,” she said.
Other researchers have challenged the belief that cities are inherently stressful, said Cesar San Juan Guillen, a social psychology professor at the University of Basque Country in Spain.
Until recently, he said, much environmental research was biased against the built environment, comparing natural settings with stressful urban ones, such as traffic-heavy streets.
San Juan Guillen has compared people who spent time in a green urban park to those who went to a busy plaza with a historic church, playground and bars. Both showed improved cognitive performance and attention, he said, and fewer negative emotions like anxiety, hostility and fatigue.
But the group in the more built-up plaza felt even more energized and less stressed.
Spending time in historic urban areas, walking in cemeteries and taking in panoramic views, for instance, provoke “a kind of soft fascination,” San Juan Guillen said.
“This type of involuntary attention may be more effective... (at recovering) the kind of attention we deplete through work or study,” he said.
The fields of environmental psychology, neuroscience and architecture are drawing on each other’s research for a better understanding of how people interact with the built environment, said Tristan Cleveland, an urban planning consultant with the Canadian firm Happy Cities.
“With blank walls, people actually walk past them faster, as if they’re trying to escape,” said Cleveland, who received his doctorate at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. “And they’re less likely to stop and talk if they see a friend.”
When considering where to walk in cities, Cleveland suggested seeking out places that would produce the sense of soft fascination. You’ll know a destination or route does if it passes the “first kiss test,” somewhere you might bring someone on a date, he said.
Annabel Abbs-Streets, author of “The Walking Cure” and “52 Ways to Walk,” said she has experienced that sense of bliss in a variety of locations. She suggested seeking out walkable cities like Boston; Taos, New Mexico; and Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Or just find the closest historic cemetery to home — Abbs-Streets is a fan of London’s “Magnificent Seven” Victorian cemeteries.
“It’s not that green is good and gray is terrible,” Abbs-Streets said. “The truth is that green and gray are just very different. Sometimes the difference is good.”
Albert Stumm writes about wellness, travel and food. Find his work at https://www.albertstumm.com
FILE - This aerial photo shows a square in the medieval old town of Dubrovnik, Croatia, on March 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File)
FILE - A child rides a bicycle, left, near a statue of Paul Revere in Boston's North End neighborhood on March 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
FILE - A marker signifying the burial place of Paul Revere appears on the fence at the Old Granary Burying Ground in Boston on Dec. 31, 2003. (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki, File)
Iranian fired drones towards Saudi Arabia and Kuwait early Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump sent contradictory signals about how long the war could last, fueling uncertainty that’s causing markets to swing.
The Saudi Defense Ministry said it has destroyed drones over the kingdom’s oil-rich eastern region, while in Kuwait, the National Guard said it shot some down in the county’s northern and southern areas.
Iran’s latest attacks on neighboring Gulf States come as Trump late Monday told Republican lawmakers that the war was likely to be a “short excursion,” but hours later threatened in a post on social media that the U.S. would dramatically increase attacks if Iran tried to close the Strait of Hormuz.
In an apparent response to Trump’s remarks published in Iranian state media, a spokesperson for the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Ali Mohammad Naini, said “Iran will determine when the war ends.”
Here is the latest:
Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told government agencies and state companies to begin having staff not in public facing roles to work from home.
The government said Tuesday that Thailand was also suspending overseas training and study trips.
The announcement comes as countries in Southeast Asia move to counter disruptions to oil and gas supplies from the war in the Middle East.
The Vietnamese government ordered similar measures, but also urged people to limit private use of their vehicles.
Fuel prices have climbed and long lines have formed outside filling stations as drivers and motorcycle riders rush to ensure they can fill their tanks.
Iran’s parliament speaker on Tuesday dismissed any suggestion Tehran sought a ceasefire in the war.
“We are definitely not looking for a ceasefire; we believe that the aggressor should be punched in the mouth so that he learns a lesson so that he will never think of attacking our beloved Iran again,” Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote on X.
“The Zionist regime sees its shameful existence in the continuation of the cycle of ‘war-negotiation-ceasefire and then war again’ to consolidate its dominance. We will break this cycle,” he wrote.
The Israeli military said Tuesday it killed three Palestinians in Gaza late Monday.
The Palestinians approached Israeli troops near the temporary line that Israel withdrew to at the start of the October 2025 ceasefire. The Yellow Line marks the Israel-controlled area in eastern Gaza.
Since the start of the ceasefire, at least 80 Palestinians have been killed near the Yellow Line after the Israeli military accused them of approaching and endangering soldiers.
Israel’s military said it detected an Iranian missile launch targeting the country Tuesday morning.
Sirens were heard in Jerusalem and explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv as Israel’s military worked to intercept the fire.
India’s oil ministry has set up a committee to review supplies of commercial cooking gas as the hospitality sector experiences a shortage of liquefied petroleum gas cylinders.
India relies heavily on oil and gas shipped through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has attacked several ships in the strait and threatened any ships that try to pass through, effectively closing it.
Industry groups in India say restaurants in some major cities including Mumbai and Bengaluru are struggling to secure cooking gas cylinders. They warn some eateries could shut within days if supplies are not restored.
Indian authorities have prioritized LPG supplies for household use, tightening availability for commercial users such as hotels and restaurants.
Azerbaijan has sent humanitarian aid to Iran, Azerbaijani officials said Monday.
The aid includes 10 tons of flour, six tons of rice, more than two tons of sugar, over four tons of water, about 600 kilograms of tea and about two tons of medicines and medical supplies, according to officials.
The move comes after tensions spiked between Baku and Tehran last week when Azerbaijan accused Iran of firing drones at its Nakhchivan exclave, an allegation Tehran denies.
Azerbaijan also has increased military and economic ties with Israel.
Iran’s judiciary is warning its local media about what and how it reports as the war with Israel and the United States goes on.
That was a comment made by judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir as reported by the state-run IRNA news agency.
It said Jahangir said local outlets “that did not comply with security issues and had taken videos and photos of certain places solely for the purpose of informing were given the necessary warnings.”
“If this happens again, the necessary legal measures will be taken,” he said, without elaborating.
Iran has shut off the internet during the war and may be restricting reporting to hide what has been struck so far.
Turkey’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday the Patriot missile defense system is being deployed in Malatya province, which hosts a NATO radar base.
The move follows NATO defenses intercepting a second ballistic missile fired from Iran that entered Turkish airspace Monday.
The Israeli military on Tuesday reiterated the call for all residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes as it planned to “operate forcefully” in the southern area against Hezbollah.
Israel issued similar warnings during its war with Hezbollah in 2003-2024, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
The Iraqi military has condemned an attack early Tuesday on a camp for an umbrella of Iranian-backed groups in northern Iraq.
The airstrike on 40th Brigade of the Popular Mobilization Forces in the city of Kirkuk killed five and wounded four, according to two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
The military described the strikes as “a blatant targeting of Iraq.”
Iraq for years has had to walk a tightrope between the U.S. and Iranian-allied Shiite groups, including some that are part of the government.
The Israeli military said Tuesday it had completed a series of strikes targeting Hezbollah’s financial arm, al-Qard Al-Hasan.
Israel says Hezbollah uses al-Qard al-Hasan to finance its military activities.
Israel targeted several of the group’s branches in southern and eastern Lebanon last week.
Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco reported 2025 profits of $104 billion, down from the year before as the Iran war has seen its fields and facilities targeted.
Aramco released its annual results Tuesday. It planned to brief investors later in the day as the war that began Feb. 28 has seen Iranian drones and missiles target its facilities.
Aramco, formally known as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., reported profits of $110 billion in 2024.
Aramco said its 2025 revenues were $445 billion, down from $480 billion in 2024.
The United Arab Emirates will lower the volume of missile alerts sent to mobile phones in the overnight hours.
The UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority made the announcement late Monday night, saying that the loud blaring alarm would sound on phones from 9 a.m. until 10:30 p.m.
A standard text message chime would sound from 10:30 p.m. until 9 a.m., it said.
The blaring klaxon had sounded in the middle of the night since the war began Feb. 28. The change in the alerts signals how Gulf Arab states are trying to adjust to the idea of the war grinding onward as there’s no immediate sign of an end to the conflict.
Egypt hiked fuel prices by up to 17% on Tuesday as the war in the Middle East sent prices of oil soaring.
According to the Petroleum Ministry the cost of a liter of diesel, which is heavily relied on for public transport, increased by more than 17%. The price of the 92-octane gasoline rose by 15% and 95-octane gasoline increased by 14%.
The war has hit Egypt hard. The most populous Arab country, Egypt depends heavily on imported fuel. The Egyptian pound fell to a record low, trading at over 52 to the US dollar on Monday.
To mitigate impact of the war, the government announced a series of measures, including reducing official overseas trips and tightening fuel consumption across sectors.
The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said on Tuesday that the end of the war will be determined by Iran.
Spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naini said in a statement published in various Iranian state media and apparently in response to Trump’s remarks Monday that “Iran will determine when the war ends.”
The U.S. president pledged aggressive action against Iran if it continues to block the shipment of oil in the Strait of Hormuz.
“If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far,” Trump posted on social media. “Additionally, we will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back, as a Nation, again — Death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them — But I hope, and pray, that it does not happen!”
The president said his threat was a “gift” to China, among other nations, because it relies on oil from the Middle East.
Flames rise from an oil storage facility south of the capital Tehran as strikes hit the city during the U.S.–Israel military campaign, Iran, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Iraqis hold a portrait of the new successor to Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei at a bridge leading to the fortified Green Zone where the U.S. embassy is located in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
A coffin is carried during the funeral of mostly children killed in a strike Feb. 28 at a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News Agency via AP)
This image taken from video provided by Iran state TV shows Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran's slain supreme leader, who has been named as the Islamic Republic's next ruler, authorities announced Monday, March 9, 2026. (Iran state TV via AP)
