The Natural Advantage: What the Outdoors Can Do That Medicine Can’t

Earlier this month I picked up The Natural Advantage by Dr. Jenny Brockis — and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

It’s one of those rare books that doesn’t just inform; it invites. Invites you outside, into the sunlight, the breeze, the birdsong. It gently yet powerfully calls us back to what we’ve always known — but too often forgotten: that nature isn’t just beautiful… it’s essential.

Dr. Brockis, a medical practitioner and brain health expert, lays out a case for nature as one of the most overlooked prescriptions for modern health. Through research, storytelling, and practical application, she shows that the most powerful antidotes to anxiety, burnout, depression, and disconnection are not necessarily found in pharmaceuticals or therapy rooms — though those have their place — but in places like bush tracks, ocean swims, and garden soil.

It’s a book that aligns perfectly with the rhythms and values of Well Watered Life. And it’s reshaped how I think about what it means to thrive.

Stress, Screens, and the Cost of Disconnection

“One in five people,” Brockis writes, “are living with a diagnosed mental health disorder.”
That statistic is staggering — and sobering. But more than that, it signals that something isn’t quite right with how we’re living.

We’ve become experts in speed but strangers to rest. We stare at glowing rectangles for 10+ hours a day, spend more time in traffic than in trees, and, as Richard Louv coined it, suffer from a growing “nature deficit.” Our children are more likely to know how to navigate a touchscreen than a rockpool.

City dwellers, according to the research shared in the book, are 56% more likely to experience depression or anxiety. But it’s not necessarily the cities themselves — it’s the lack of green and blue space. And the science backs it up: natural environments are proven to reduce cortisol, calm the nervous system, and promote creativity and emotional balance.

Nature is More Than a Nice-to-Have

In The Natural Advantage, Brockis makes a powerful point:

“Health is far more than the absence of disease… A vital contributor to long-term wellbeing is positive human experience — joy, connection, play.”

Nature delivers all of that in abundance. And it does so without a subscription fee, without a password, without side effects.

Just 15–20 minutes in a natural setting — a walk by water, a moment with your shoes off on the grass — can activate your parasympathetic nervous system (your body’s rest-and-repair mode). It can help reset your brain’s focus cycles. It can reduce anxiety and enhance mood. And yes, it can literally make you smarter:

“Play alleviates stress and makes us smarter… by developing more creative thinking.”

One study in the book showed a 98% improvement in mental health outcomes from exposure to nature. Another, from the University of South Australia, found that outdoor exercise was 1.5 times more effective than medication or counselling for managing depression and anxiety.

The Way of Water

Of course, what drew me most deeply into The Natural Advantage were the parts that echoed the language and vision of Well Watered Life — especially the way Brockis speaks of the healing power of water.

She writes of the impact of natural sounds — “the trickle of water, the ribbets of frogs, the patter of rain on the roof.” These aren’t just pleasant background noise. They are restorative. In fact, the National Trust in the UK found that listening to woodland sounds for one minute increased feelings of relaxation by 30% and lowered anxiety.

She describes standing on a bridge, watching water move, and realising:

“We are like water in many ways: adaptive, persistent, and super resilient.”

It reminded me of the gift of simply observing water — how it flows around obstacles, finds paths, carves landscapes, and eventually reaches its destination. It’s one of the core ideas behind Well Watered Life: to consume, immerse, observe, play, protect, and create — in rhythm with water’s way.

The Invitation: A Natural Reset

Here’s what I took from The Natural Advantage, and what I hope you might too:
You don’t need a complete lifestyle overhaul to begin healing.
You don’t need to move to a cabin in the woods.
You simply need to start noticing again.

Take a blue break.
Step outside for 15 minutes and let your eyes rest on something that’s not a screen.
Lie on the grass. Listen for birdsong. Let the rain touch your skin. Watch a stream. Walk barefoot. Reclaim the art of unstructured outdoor time.

Play. Observe. Immerse.

This is where thriving begins.

Pick up a copy of Dr. Brokis’ incredible book here.