Each New Year, new gym memberships soar as people make resolutions about getting fitter and healthier. A few weeks later, as the novelty wears thin, many people have stopped visiting the gym and are left feeling disillusioned and at a loss. If this rings true for you, why not make March the month when you swap Gym Bunny for Nature Nymph. Getting your exercise outdoors is not only cheaper, it also comes with a wide range of surprising benefits…

There's a Japanese export that's worth taking notice of. It's not the latest gadget or food craze, in fact it is the perfect antidote to the stresses of everyday life. Find out about Forest Bathing, its far-reaching benefits and how to create your own experience of Nature Bathing with a simple walk… 

Forest Bathing as a named activity was developed in Japan during the 1980s and has become a cornerstone of preventive health care and healing in Japanese medicine. It comes from the Japanese term 'shinrin-yoku' which means taking in the forest atmosphere. With more than a fifth of the Japanese population reporting a regular working week of 49 hours, the Japanese government officially recommends Forest Bathing as a way for its super-stressed citizens to shake off the worries of life in hectic metropolises. Companies are quickly lining up to deliver organised bathing experiences, with city dwellers paying thousands of pounds for a week of forest immersion.

Doctors prescribing exercise outdoors to patients would get more people doing physical activity and help reduce obesity, say councils. The Local Government Association, which represents more than 370 councils, is calling for a similar model to the "green prescription" in New Zealand that gets people outdoors, to be introduced in England and Wales...