How happy do you feel right now? The question is asked by an app on my phone, and I drag the slider to the space between "not much" and "somewhat".
I'm about to start a walk in the woods that is part of a nationwide research project to investigate how better to design the forests of the future.
Volunteers are being sought to record their feelings before and after eight walks on a free app, Go Jauntly, which could reveal what kind of treescapes most benefit our wellbeing and mental health.
I'm feeling frazzled after a week of delayed trains that led me to drive three-and-a-half hours to the Staffordshire village of Barton-under-Needwood, where the walk begins. Surely my mood will be lifted by a leafy walk through the National Forest, a vast woodland emerging across the Midlands.
This story is from the September 09, 2022 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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This story is from the September 09, 2022 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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