The Outdoor Prescription for a Healthier Brain (Brain Week 2026)
In this engaging and science-backed session, The Outdoor Prescription for a Healthier Brain, Dr. Melissa Sundermann—widely known as "Doctor Outdoors"—explores how nature and lifestyle behaviors profoundly influence brain health across the lifespan.
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Blending the latest neuroscience with the principles of Lifestyle Medicine, she demonstrates how time outdoors, movement, stress regulation, sleep, and social connection support cognitive function, emotional resilience, and long-term brain vitality.
Through compelling stories, practical insights, and simple, actionable strategies, participants will learn how small, consistent “doses” of nature can reduce stress, sharpen focus, enhance mood, and protect brain health in a fast-paced, overstimulated world.
Attendees will leave inspired and empowered with evidence-based tools they can integrate immediately into daily life to support a healthier, more resilient brain—one step outside at a time.
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👋 Meet Dr. Melissa Sundermann, DO, FACOI, DipABLM, FACLM, “Dr. Outdoors”
Dr. Melissa Sundermann is a double board-certified physician in Internal Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine with more than 25 years of clinical experience. She has advanced training in Integrative Medicine from the University of Michigan and completed professional training in Mind-Body Medicine through the Center for Mind-Body Medicine. Her work emphasizes a holistic, patient-centered approach that empowers individuals to heal through self-care and the pillars of Lifestyle Medicine.
Widely known as "Doctor Outdoors", Dr. Sundermann is a leading expert in "Nature as Medicine". She serves as the Founding Chair of the Nature as Medicine subcommittee for the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and as Chair of the Global Wellness Institute’s Lifestyle Medicine Initiative. She is currently the Medical Director of Lifestyle Medicine for Corewell Health System and previously practiced Longevity and Lifestyle Medicine at Lifespan Medicine and Canyon Ranch Wellness Resort.
Dr. Sundermann is the author of Doctor Outdoors’s Guide to Nature and Lifestyle Medicine, and the co-founder of REVIVE! Lifestyle Medicine Well-Being Coaching and Retreats. An avid outdoor athlete, she is a 12-time Boston Marathon finisher, three-time Ironman triathlete, and ultramarathon trainee who believes deeply that age is not your cage and that vitality is possible at every stage of life.
Connect with Dr. Sundermann on LinkedIn
Instagram: @thedoctoroutdoors
Website: https://thedoctoroutdoors.com/
Email: [email protected]
Check out her Book on Amazon!
Listen to our "Let’s Talk Brain Health! Podcast" with Dr. Sundermann on the brain-boosting benefits of nature for optimal brain health and wellness.
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