Nature-Based Wellness: How Desert, Rainforest, Ocean, and Dark Skies Shape Human Health

Written by Albert Ghitis | Dec 7, 2025

At Nayara Alto Atacama everything you see by day is brown and rust-red sand and rock. The air is dry and thin, horizon lines stay clean, and the valley reads as a simple palette of earth and light. Then night falls, and the landscape turns black. Artificial light drops to a minimum, and the Milky Way stretches from ridge to ridge in one of the world’s clearest dark-sky views.

In Costa Rica, the first impression is green. Layers of leaves, mist, and moss around Arenal Volcano. Paths between villas feel like narrow tunnels through vegetation. Hot springs steam in the cool air and birds stitch sound through the canopy.

In Bocas del Toro, rainforest meet reef (green meet blue). Water below your overwater villa shifts from pale turquoise over the reef to deep navy where the sea falls away, while mangroves and rainforest close in at the edges.

For us, these are not postcards. Brown, green, blue, and black describe four different workloads for the nervous system. Deserts strip the visual field to light, rock, and distance. Rainforests overwhelm it with biodiversity, humidity, and sound. Oceans offer rhythm, horizon, and immersion. Dark skies change what the brain does with scale and time.

At Nayara, nature-based wellness is painted in brown, black, blue, and green..

Brown: Chile’s Atacama Desert by Day

By day at Nayara Alto Atacama, the desert feels stripped back to its elements. You step out from low adobe walls into a valley of rock, sand, and sky. The palette is almost entirely brown and rust, with green held close in native gardens and vegetable plots. Paths run past small pools, terraces, and cactus beds toward dry riverbeds and distant ridges.

There is very little noise. Wind across stone. An occasional bird. The soft run of water in narrow channels. No traffic, no elevators, no city hum. The visual field is just as sparse. Long sightlines, few moving objects, clean horizons in almost every direction. For guests who arrive from dense, overstimulating cities, that combination of brown earth, open space, and quiet can feel like taking off a pair of heavy headphones they did not realise they were wearing.

The architecture at Nayara Alto Atacama supports that effect. Buildings sit low and follow the contours of the valley, using earth-toned adobe and stone so that walls blend into the canyon rather than standing out against it. Gardens are planted to frame views rather than block them, and pool areas are tucked into sheltered courtyards where water and rock stay in balance. The result is a daytime environment that keeps mechanical input low and lets light, air, and land do most of the work.

In this daytime frame, the Atacama functions as our brown space. It is the place in the Nayara portfolio where simplicity, dryness, and clean views give the nervous system a low-input environment to recover from the chronic overload of dense urban life.

The Science

Attention Restoration Theory proposes that environments with simple, coherent structure and a sense of being away help restore attention
Theoretical frameworks such as Attention Restoration Theory and Stress Recovery Theory, presented in work by Kaplan and others and summarised in outlets like (Journal of Environmental Psychology) explain why environments that feel coherent, low in clutter, and distinct from daily life support mental reset. These ideas map naturally onto desert, forest, and coastal settings.
Reviews of restorative environments note that natural scenes with low visual clutter and strong horizon lines support mental reset, particularly after heavy cognitive work. Simple landscapes that are easy to understand visually appear again and again in experiments on perceived restorativeness Berto, 201

Black: Dark-Sky Wellness

When the sun drops behind the ridge at Nayara Alto Atacama, the desert trades brown for black. Artificial light across the property stays intentionally low. Pathways are lit just enough for safety. Rooms use warm, carefully directed fixtures rather than bright, upward-facing beams. Once your eyes adapt, the sky takes over as the main feature.

Northern Chile is home to some of the most important observatories in the world. The European Southern Observatory calls the region one of the best places on Earth for astronomical observation because of its high altitude, aridity, and minimal light pollution. Popular accounts of stargazing in the Atacama describe a sky so dense with stars that familiar constellations become difficult to pick out ESO news on Atacama skies

From our stargazing platform at Nayara Alto Atacama, guests see the Milky Way as a distinct band, not a faint suggestion. On clear nights, the structure of the galaxy is visible from horizon to horizon. Guided sessions focus on the experience of standing in that darkness and looking up, with periods of silence built in. Many guests report that time feels slower, that worries shrink to a manageable scale, or that they sleep more deeply after a night under the stars.

The black sky is not only an aesthetic asset. It is a health input. Strong contrast between bright days and genuinely dark nights supports circadian timing. The experience of awe under a clear night sky shows up in social science as a modifier of mood, stress, and even prosocial behaviour. In the Atacama, those mechanisms are built into the geography.

We treat dark skies as part of wellness infrastructure. Decisions about development, lighting, and programming in and around the lodge incorporate the idea that preserving black skies is as important for long-term guest wellbeing as preserving trails or gardens.

These black skies over the Atacama are our night-space counterpart to the brown daytime desert. Together, they form a full 24-hour environment for clarity, sleep support, and emotional reset, built from light, dark, and the absence of urban noise rather than from equipment or screens

The Science

Reviews on light exposure and health report that exposure to artificial light at night can suppress melatonin, shift circadian phase, and impair sleep, while consistent dark nights and bright days support better sleep quality and more stable mood Chronobiology in Medicine overview
Public-facing summaries from Harvard Health underline that evening exposure to strong indoor and screen light is associated with delayed sleep onset and poorer rest. In a dark-sky environment like Alto Atacama, outdoor night light is minimal by design, which reduces this pressure on the circadian system.
Experimental work on awe finds that experiences which make people feel small relative to something vast, such as panoramic night skies or large natural vistas, are linked with lower stress, increased prosocial feelings, and changes in how people perceive time (Piff et al., 2015)
The European Southern Observatory and other astronomy organisations have warned that increasing development and light around observatory sites threatens the quality of the Atacama night sky. This underscores that darkness is a finite resource, not a guarantee.
The Guardian’s coverage of Atacama stargazing emphasises how few places remain where the Milky Way is visible in this way to the naked eye. Protecting that darkness has both scientific and experiential value. Research on light and circadian biology shows that bright daytime light helps stabilise internal clocks, improves alertness, and supports later sleep quality, especially when paired with softer light in the evening (Tähkämö et al., 2019) High, dry regions with long, clear days naturally deliver this kind of exposure.

Green: Rainforest Wellness in Costa Rica

Walk out of your villa in Arenal and you are in the color green. Not a single shade, but layers: broad leaves at eye level, moss on trunks, epiphytes in the branches, a canopy that filters light into shifting bands. Air feels thicker here. You hear water before you see it. Bird calls overlap with insect pulses and the low rush of a nearby spring.

At our three Costa Rican properties around Arenal, that green is the main ingredient in wellness. Nayara Gardens wraps casitas and villas in dense planting, so you follow curved paths where other guests appear only in passing. Nayara Springs, our adults-only refuge, pairs each villa with a private mineral hot-spring plunge pool framed by foliage and views toward the volcano. Nayara Tented Camp stretches along the hillside, with canvas tents and geothermal plunge pools that sit almost level with the treetops.

Life here follows rainforest timing. Morning yoga in an open-air pavilion overlooks the canopy. Movement stays slow and deliberate, synced to birds and wind. Sound healing in the Suka Spa carries a double soundtrack: singing bowls close by, water and forest beyond. In the shared hot springs, conversations drop in volume without effort. Guests sit in warm water, half-hidden by plants, watching mist rise between trees.

Yoga platforms and Suka Spa treatment spaces are open to the air and oriented toward canopy and springs rather than inward toward walls. That layout ensures that forest sound and microclimate are present during each session, matching evidence that multi-sensory natural input supports restoration more than visual exposure alone.

Privacy is part of the effect. In Arenal, villas and tents are spaced so you can step from bed to pool without feeling observed. That intimacy is why we treat these spaces as more than amenities. They are small laboratories where green exposure, warm water, and quiet time reinforce one another. For the full story on how private villas, plunge pools, and thermal water work together at Arenal, see our companion piece on private villas with hot springs in Costa Rica.

The Science

Reviews and meta-analyses of forest bathing and forest therapy report that guided time in wooded environments tends to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression and improve overall mental wellbeing, even when specific physiological outcomes vary between studies. Recent summaries in Frontiers in Psychology and systematic reviews in Environment International both point in this direction.
Experimental forest walks often show lower cortisol, lower heart rate, and lower blood pressure compared with matched urban walks, along with higher parasympathetic activity.
Studies report increases in natural killer cell activity and beneficial changes in immune markers after multi-day forest trips, with some effects persisting for days after participants return to urban environments

Where Blue Meets Green: Bocas del Toro

Arriving at Nayara Bocas del Toro, the shift happens before you see your villa. The boat engine cuts, and the loudest sounds become water against the hull, wind in mangroves, and the occasional call of a bird. There are no cars and no roads on the island. Movement happens on foot, by bicycle, or by boat.

From there, blue and green pull you in different directions at once. Below the boardwalks and overwater villas, clear Caribbean water runs from pale turquoise over the reef shelf into deeper blue where the sea drops away. Around and behind the property, coastal forest and mangroves close in, adding crickets, frogs, and leaves to the sound field. It is one of the few settings where you can watch reef fish under your villa in the morning, then look back at dense tree canopy from a spa table that sits above it. Coastal forests and mangroves sit at a blue–green edge. They provide shade, humidity, and complex soundscapes while remaining visually and physically tied to water. In practice, that means guests experience both the calming effect of horizon and waves and the multi-sensory richness of vegetation and wildlife in the same stay.

Overwater villas are positioned so that the sea is in view from almost every point inside. Glass floor panels and decks over shallow reef areas make reef life a visible part of daily routines rather than a separate excursion.

Wellness here starts with that geometry. Overwater villas give you direct step-to-sea access for swimming, kayaking, or snorkelling among coral heads and seagrass. Treatments can happen on your private deck with water underfloor and horizon ahead, or in the Treehouse Spa, suspended high in the canopy with views across treetops to the reef edge. Blue (water and horizon) and green (forest and mangroves) are never far from view. Emotional balance comes less from a schedule of sessions and more from repeated, easy contact with both elements.

Step-to-sea access from villa decks lowers the friction for gentle activity: short swims, kayak launches, or snorkelling among coral and seagrass. This supports the combination of visual restoration and moderate exercise described in blue-health frameworks.The Treehouse Spa uses altitude to reframe that relationship. Treatments happen above the canopy, where you see both forest and reef edge in a single view and hear insects, birds, and low surf together.

For guests who want to understand the water component in more detail, our separate blog on private villas and plunge pools in Costa Rica traces how thermal water, privacy, and rainforest setting intersect in Arenal.

Within that arc, Nayara Bocas del Toro holds the role of emotional stabilizer. It is where reef and rainforest meet, where guests spend much of the day within sight or sound of water, and where blue and green exposures are layered on top of each other rather than offered in isolation.

As an island in the middle of the pacific Easter Islands' Nayara Hangaroa is in the blue zone, but it sits at the edge of a very different story. Here wellness is more cultural and spiritual than programmatic. Moai sites, ocean cliffs, and a spa shaped like a traditional manavai form part of a cultural wellness arc that lies outside of our color framework.

The Science

Reviews of blue-space research in environmental psychology link regular time near coasts, rivers, and lakes with higher life satisfaction and lower psychological distress, even after accounting for income and urban form.
One synthesis outlines a “blue health” model where aquatic environments support wellbeing through stress reduction, physical activity, social contact, and better environmental quality (White et al., Environmental Research, 2020)
A longitudinal analysis from England found that people reported better mental and general health in years when they lived closer to the coast, consistent with the idea that everyday access to water environments matters, not only occasional trips (Mitchell et al., Scientific Reports, 2019).
Studies on outdoor aquatic activity suggest that swimming and other water-based exercise are associated with improved mood, reduced stress, and higher self-reported vitality relative to some land-based activities, although study designs and populations vary (Gascon et al., Health & Place, 2020)

Game of Tones

Research on restorative soundscapes finds that environments dominated by birdsong, water, and wind in vegetation score higher on perceived rest, immersion, and preference than spaces where mechanical or traffic noise is prominent. Reviews in Frontiers in Psychology and case studies in Science of the Total Environment highlight the role of natural sound in complementing visual greenery.
The absence of cars removes a major source of low-frequency mechanical noise. Dominant sounds become surf, wind, insects, and distant boat engines. Research on natural soundscapes and restoration suggests that such broadband natural sound fields help people recover from stress more effectively than silence in noisy contexts, because they both mask intrusions and signal safety.
Treatment rooms, villas, and common areas are built in timber and other sound-diffusing materials that let natural sound in while avoiding harsh echoes, so the acoustic environment stays soft rather than hollow
Dense planting, terrain, and building placement keep traffic and mechanical noise outside the guest acoustic field. Within the properties, water features and natural soundscapes supply the broadband background that research associates with reduced annoyance and improved mood compared with intermittent mechanical noise.

Where Nature-Based Wellness Goes Next

Spend a week moving through our three core regions and you can feel how the same body behaves differently in each. Each ecosystem pushes different buttons in the nervous system. Our role is to align buildings, programs, and pacing with what the data suggests those environments already do.

Look a decade ahead and one pattern becomes unavoidable. The very things that make brown, black, green, and blue-green spaces so powerful for human health are under pressure. Night skies grow brighter as light pollution spreads. Deserts face changing rainfall patterns and heat extremes. Rainforests lose biodiversity to land use and climate shifts. Coral reefs and mangroves sit on the front line of warming oceans.

For nature-based wellness to stay honest, it has to confront that tension. A dark-sky stargazing session, a rainforest hot-spring soak, or a morning swim above a living reef can no longer be framed only as personal escapes. They are also moments that depend on complex, vulnerable systems.

In our view, the next phase of luxury wellness is not about more technology or longer treatment menus. It is about deepening this connection between personal restoration and environmental resilience.

At Nayara, that means two parallel tracks. First, continuing to refine how each ecosystem shapes your stay, so that a week in Atacama, Arenal, or Bocas del Toro feels less like a generic holiday and more like a specific intervention for your nervous system. Second, investing in the regeneration that keeps these color worlds alive, from rainforest restoration and water stewardship, to solar panel projects and coral reef restoration.

The data is clear: these natural environments are critical for both ecological and human wellbeing, And that's why sustainability sits inside our wellness strategy rather than next to it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is nature-based wellness?

Nature-based wellness refers to health benefits that come from spending time in natural environments and designing stays around those settings. Instead of focusing only on treatments or equipment, it treats ecosystems themselves as the primary input for stress reduction, sleep support, mood, and cognitive recovery. Reviews of nature exposure and health summarise wide-ranging benefits for mental and physical wellbeing.

What do you mean by brown, black, green, and blue-green spaces?

These are shorthand labels for the main environments our guests move through. Brown refers to the open, low-vegetation desert landscapes around Nayara Alto Atacama. Black refers to true dark-sky conditions at night, when artificial light is minimal and the Milky Way is visible. Green refers to the rainforest and canopy immersion around Arenal in Costa Rica. Blue-green describes the meeting of rainforest and reef at Nayara Bocas del Toro, where forest and sea are both present in the same frame. Each of these settings places different demands on the nervous system and supports different types of restoration.

Is there real science behind forest bathing, hot springs, and time near water?

Yes, although methods and quality vary. Forest bathing studies show that short visits to wooded environments can reduce cortisol and blood pressure and increase parasympathetic activity compared with urban walks. Reviews of balneotherapy indicate that repeated immersion in warm, mineral-rich water can reduce pain and improve quality of life for some musculoskeletal conditions when used alongside conventional care. Blue-space research links regular time near coasts, rivers, and lakes with higher life satisfaction and lower psychological distress.

How much time in nature do I need for it to matter?

There is no single rule, but one large English study of 19,806 adults found that people who spent at least 120 minutes per week in natural environments were more likely to report good health and high wellbeing than those with less or no nature contact, regardless of whether that time came in one long visit or several shorter ones For most guests, a week at any Nayara property comfortably passes that threshold, simply through daily walks, time on terraces, forest or desert activities, and time near water.

How do Nayara properties fit into this color-based framework?

Nayara Alto Atacama is our primary brown and black space, with open desert views, minimal vegetation, and protected dark skies that align with attention-restoration and circadian findings from environmental psychology related circadian reviews. Nayara Gardens, Nayara Springs, and Nayara Tented Camp together form a green and green-blue rainforest circuit that aligns with forest-immersion research and thermal-water work on balneotherapy. Nayara Bocas del Toro is our blue and blue-green setting, echoing blue-space studies that link coastal environments with better mental health and life satisfaction,

Are these experiences medical treatments?

They are not positioned as medical treatments and should not replace clinical advice. The research base indicates that nature exposure, forest immersion, thermal bathing, and time near water can support mental health, stress recovery, sleep, and quality of life, and in some cases help manage symptoms alongside standard care. Reviews stress that evidence is encouraging but still heterogeneous. Guests with specific conditions should follow guidance from their clinicians, especially regarding heat, exertion, and travel.

How is this different from a typical spa or wellness retreat?

Traditional spa menus often start with treatments and add the setting later. Our approach starts with ecosystems and treats architecture, programming, and spa design as ways to deliver specific types of exposure to desert, rainforest, reef, and night sky. This aligns with work on wellness real estate and health-focused design, which highlights air, light, acoustics, and nature connection as primary health levers in buildings. Spa treatments at Nayara sit on top of that ecological base rather than replacing it.