Parks prescriptions, or Parks Rx, is a movement based on the fundamental idea that spending time in nature is good for your health. In California’s Bay Area, most counties host a Parks Rx program, often connecting parks and public health departments. They provide resources for clinicians and doctors to recommend, like reminding a patient to exercise, spending time in nature as part of your health and wellness plan.

A step beyond Parks Rx, Trails Rx helps give patients and clinicians more options for how to help turn a recommendation for time in nature into a suggestion for where best to go outdoors and benefit from a specific place, or trail. Trails Prescriptions are intended to offer more information about the many health benefits of specific trails, which can help people make choices about where to spend their time in nature based on their personal health and wellness goals and needs.

The Trails Prescription Program for the Santa Cruz Mountains will evolve and add trails over time. The trails we select are intended to both introduce you to a new park destination or trail network, and connect you with easy-rated trails that allow you to explore nature in ways that support your health and wellness journey. 

Empirical evidence has been stacking up in recent decades as study after study returns data showing how nature is linked to our well-being. Studies have shown that just spending time in nature can decrease stress and increase indicators of health. After spending time outdoors participants in studies have shown lower adrenaline, cortisol, and blood pressure, while virus and cancer-fighting cells increased. Spending time outdoors is also linked with reductions in depression and major depressive disorder, and increases in self-esteem, focus, memory, and creativity. Learn more about the benefits of being in nature.

Health data helps people understand how their time moving in nature benefits them in measurable terms. We include two basic measures of the health benefits of using energy: calories and metabolic equivalents. Calories (CALs) are often associated with both the food we eat (intake of caloric energy to fuel our bodies), and the excess calories shed, or burned, through exercise. Metabolic Equivalent of Tasks (METs) are a more specific way of understanding how much oxygen we consume during exercise as compared to rest. The more we exercise and the more vigorously we move, the more oxygen we consume. METs help us understand how much harder our body is working when we are not at rest.

Calorie and metabolic equivalent calculators are common tools used to evaluate the outcomes of exercise. Combining these measurements with the length of a trail, the elevation gain experienced during the trail, and the slope (or grade) of the trail, we can give you reasonable guidance for your caloric and metabolic outcomes, based on your weight and the pace you move on a trail. We selected two paces–light and moderate–for Trails Rx data (light: 2.5 mph; moderate: 3.5 mph). If you are moving more vigorously (running, for example), you may want to consult a fitness tracker or app for data more specific to your experience.

Forest bathing is spending time in nature to help your body and mind feel calm and refreshed. Known traditionally as “shinrin-yoku," in Japanese, "shinrin" means forest, and "yoku" means bath or bathing. Together, "shinrin-yoku" translates to "forest bathing" or "taking in the forest atmosphere."

The practice of forest bathing is guided by prompts or invitations. These invitations help you engage nature through all of your senses and your mind. Forest bathing can help reduce stress, boost your mood, and make you feel more connected to nature. Learn more about forest bathing and check out all of the invitations we suggest for Trails Prescriptions in this guide.