This past Tuesday morning, I once again faced the treacherous journey from Harnwell College House to Hayden Hall. With the sun glistening off the Covenant and the heft of my notebooks weighing down my backpack, I threw in my AirPods and locked the world out for a calm 10-minute stroll. However, on my walk, expecting to see my classmates strutting down Locust Walk, everywhere I turned I saw phones clutched in hand, fingers fluttering to send emails, and Italian leather loafers rushing to get to MATH 1070 before Andrew Cooper\u2019s sharp 10:15 a.m. cutoff.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like most undergraduates, I often find myself in a similar scenario: walking with a purpose instead of for pleasure. Few would even think to accuse Penn students of having too much free time, with weekly clubs, daily classes, late-night study sessions, and Houston Hall pre-ordered pickups filling up Notion calendars left and right. Yet, when given the choice of where to spend the hours of reading, recapping, and researching, time and time again, we resort to claustrophobia-inducing, closed-off chambers that significantly worsen mental health<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The truth, though, is that time isn\u2019t really the limiting factor. Even when a free hour does materialize, the reflex is to spend it exactly where we always do, indoors, under fluorescent light, at another desk. Students repeatedly resort to rooms without \u201cexit valves,\u201d spaces labeled by<\/a> \u201ca lack of personal space and the inability to escape distractions.\u201d Even when it\u2019s 75 degrees and sunny outside, it\u2019s nearly impossible to reserve a Huntsman group study room or find an office pod unoccupied by your local engineering major. However, what feels productive in the moment may be quietly wearing us down, as prolonged occupancy of crowded, enclosed, or tight spaces is consistently linked to elevated stress levels, social withdrawal, and even aggression<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just about square footage or crowding; the absence of windows compounds the same problem. Researchers suggest that while square footage undoubtedly has influence, green visibility<\/a> is the real variable driving mental health outcomes on a campus like Penn\u2019s, referencing a study that found that patients who had a view of nature from their hospital rooms healed more quickly than others in rooms without windows. Strip that same access to Vitamin D from a GSR or a fourth-floor Van Pelt-Dietrich Library carrel, and it\u2019s worth asking what daily deprivation is doing to Penn students.\u00a0<\/p>\n The decision to isolate indoors is one not made just by Penn students. Penn\u2019s administration, structurally, gives them less room not to, as the University\u2019s semesterly calendar offers fewer days off<\/a> than any other school in the Ivy League, leaving us with the lowest ratio of break time to class time compared to any peer institution. Layer that onto a campus culture where free time itself feels like something to justify, and it\u2019s no surprise the toll shows up in the numbers.<\/p>\n Get the DP delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n Sign Up<\/a><\/p>\n Whether you wear Penn Face<\/a> with pride or with shame, Penn consistently shows up atop the most depressed universities<\/a> list, as demanding classes, cutthroat club applications, and a bubble-like social isolation have contributed to an environment defined by constant emotional turmoil. While Penn\u2019s administration doesn\u2019t disclose statistics about the student body\u2019s mental struggles, approximately 37%<\/a> and 39%<\/a> of students across the country face symptoms of depression and anxiety, respectively. Even though we take pride in being known as the \u201cSocial Ivy,\u201d it\u2019s about time we address our secondary title: the \u201cDepressed Ivy<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The remedy, luckily, doesn\u2019t need to be invented, but rather utilized. While Philadelphia isn\u2019t known for its botanical gardens, mountain treks, or even abundance of trees, Penn\u2019s campus provides the foliage and fresh air that may clear your mind more than finishing that problem set will. Skip the GSR and do your reading on College Green, toss a frisbee between conference calls instead of doomscrolling, maybe trade off a Saturday morning spent hunched over a laptop for a stroll down to the Clark Park Farmers Market<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n None of this is wishful thinking, as nature walks have been shown to consistently restore one\u2019s attention span<\/a> without any real effort involved, and Penn\u2019s own research has found that consistent exposure to greenery (instead of empty lots) slashed depression rates by over 40%<\/a>. Stanford researchers found that outdoor walking nearly doubled the rate of high-quality creative thinking<\/a> compared to sitting indoors. The Science Advances journal even discovered that for each tree added to an urban setting annually, antidepressant prescriptions decreased<\/a> correspondingly.\u00a0<\/p>\n Take the logic to an extreme, and it holds up just as soundly: organized wilderness retreats<\/a> have led to real, durable boosts to resilience among people who spend weeks fully removed from their routines<\/a>, not just an afternoon. I was lucky to embrace that wisdom, as I spent my summer free from emails, essays, and enclosures on a backpacking expedition through the backcountry of the Wind River Range in northwest Wyoming. My mornings were simpler, as instant coffee, fuzzy gloves, and \u201cjust one more minute\u201d in my sleeping bag brought me more joy than any Pret a Manger latte or Instagram reel could provide. While by no means is a remote excursion accessible or easy to execute, I do hope that those seeking some peace of mind may find some in Philadelphia\u2019s vast landscape.\u00a0<\/p>\n As midterms and meetings begin to consume our schedules and the weather turns crisp, there\u2019s no better time to start killing your doubts, fears, and worries with a walk outside than now \u2014 one where, for 10 minutes, your phone stays in your pocket, and Locust becomes a \u201cwalk\u201d again.<\/p>\n