NATURE IS GOOD FOR YOUR BRAIN - UNIVERSITY TESTS PROVE IT

Just in case you need to know why a walk in the bush makes your prefrontal coretex feel so spiffy here's the answer:

Attention Restoration Theory (ART) provides an analysis of the kinds of environments that lead to improvements in directed-attention abilities. Nature, which is filled with intriguing stimuli, modestly grabs attention in a bottom-up fashion, allowing top-down directed-attention abilities a chance to replenish. Unlike natural environments, urban environments are filled with stimulation that captures attention dramatically and additionally requires directed attention (e.g., to avoid being hit by a car), making them less restorative.We present two experiments that show that walking in nature or viewing pictures of nature can improve directed-attention abilities as measured with a backwards digit-span task and the Attention Network Task, thus validating Attention Restoration Theory. (For more info go here.)

In other words our animal brains need the gentle prodding we get mooching about in the shrubbery. Though you have to wonder what happens to this soothing restoration process if you step on a snake.