There is a yoga mat in your living room. A meditation app you opened twice. A gym membership that has become a monthly guilt subscription. You are trying. Most Americans are. According to new research from Eddie Bauer Adventure Club, a vacation club for active explorers that recently debuted in Moab, Utah, what actually works is as simple as stepping outside. The survey of U.S. adults finds that 73% feel noticeably more relaxed or recharged within 1 hour of being outdoors, and 40% say it happens within 30 minutes.
The comparison against traditional wellness habits is striking. Half of Americans say a short outdoor trip is more effective for their stress and mental health than their regular wellness routine, outperforming gym memberships, meditation apps, and self-care habits they are already investing in.
"What this research underscores is that wellness doesn’t always have to be complicated. People are telling us they feel better almost immediately when they step outside, disconnect from the constant noise, and spend meaningful time with the people around them,” said Jessica Doyle, travel innovation & trends expert, Eddie Bauer Adventure Club. “That’s a powerful reminder that nature itself may be one of the most accessible wellness tools we have. It also reminds us that vacations — especially those centered around nature and shared experiences — can play a much bigger role in overall wellbeing than people sometimes realize.”
The problem is not awareness. It is frequency. Forty-three percent say they get outside, but not nearly enough. And even when they do make it out, the reset does not always get a fair chance. Sixty-two percent check their phones within the first hour of arriving somewhere in nature, including 31% who do so immediately.
The barriers keeping people indoors are more practical than you might think. Family responsibilities, travel costs and work schedules rank among the biggest barriers. Screen time and digital habits, often assumed to be the main culprits, rank lower than all of them.
What is draining people in the meantime runs deeper than any single habit. Financial stress leads the list at 24%, followed by general burnout and the persistent sense that they are always reachable and never fully off. The reset, when it comes, is fighting something that does not clock out.
The good news is that the solution people are looking for is more accessible than they might expect. They are not holding out for a two-week expedition. Asked what they hope to get from time outdoors, 27% say a chance to unplug and disconnect from daily life entirely. A long weekend somewhere quiet, away from the noise of daily life, with enough space to actually exhale, is exactly what most people are looking for.
That reset is also about more than personal stress relief. The outdoors is where people reconnect with the people who matter most. Asked how important it is that outdoor experiences can be shared across generations, with parents, children or grandchildren, 29% say it is one of the main reasons they seek out time outdoors at all.
For many Americans, the recharge they are looking for is not new. It is just outside.
METHODOLOGY
Eddie Bauer Adventure Club commissioned Atomik Research to conduct an online survey of 1,000 adults throughout the United States. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. Fieldwork was conducted between April 22 and April 27, 2026.
Atomik Research, part of 4media group, is a creative market research agency.