The term “restoration” in environmental psychology refers to recovery of physiological and psychological adaptive resources through perception of nature. Being one of the consensus explanations for the beneficial effect of nature contact on the physiological and psychological state of a person, “restoration” at the same time causes a lot of discussion. The article provides an overview of current views on the restoration associated with two resonant theories — Attention Restoration Theory and Stress Recovery Theory. One of the objectives of the overview is to discuss the controversial issues that are relevant for research on the restorative effect of nature contacts. The first topic is a discussion about the mechanisms of restoration: due to the qualities of the natural environment (bottom-up theories) or due to subjective factors (top-down theories). Another topic is going beyond the adaptation paradigm. It is realized through expansion of the meaning of the concept or through the inclusion of restoration as an element in a wider system of effects of nature contact. Arguments in favor of “preserving the boundaries” of the concept as a physiological, affective and cognitive restoration are outlined. The se - cond objective of this overview is to offer a systematic view of the empirical measures of restoration (as in research practices there are examples of confusion of restoration-related constructs). A categorization of measures is proposed: objective physiological measures; objective cognitive tests; self-reported emotional states/traits scales; self-reported restoration and restorativeness scales (online/recalled restorative outcome, online/recalled restorativeness). The article may be of interest to researchers of the psychological effects of nature contact in the Russian-speaking context.