Mental Health Benefits from Nature
Green Exercise Reduces Depression and Aggression in Adults and Kids
According to Australian health professor, Dr Mardie Townsend, researchers are establishing credible grounds for green prescriptions -- where doctors ‘prescribe' contact with nature for various conditions -- and for parks to be considered a national health resource.
The associate professor in the School of Health and Social Development at Deakin University in Melbourne, has recently reviewed the research literature on the benefits to human health from access to nature.
Contact with nature does more than boost personal wellbeing, says Professor Townsend. It can even help cure social ills, reducing violence and crime rates.
Greenery Lowers Aggression and Crime
Associate Professor Frances Kuo, founder and director of the Landscape and Human Health Lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been researching the interaction between human health and our environment for at least 15 years.
In 2001, Dr Kuo and colleagues published a study examining the relationship between levels of vegetation and crime rates in 98 apartment buildings in a Chicago public housing development.
Compared with housing blocks that had little or no vegetation, housing blocks with high levels of greenery had 48 per cent fewer property crimes and 56 per cent fewer violent crimes.
How could patches of green in a concrete jungle have such an impact? Greenery helps people to relax and renew, reducing aggression.
Green spaces also bring people together outdoors, which increases surveillance and discourages criminals, Dr Kuo and her fellow authors suggested.
Dr Kuo's work has since been instrumental in securing $10 million for tree planting in Chicago.
Greenery Improves Mental Function in Children
Children suffering Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) also seem to benefit from access to green spaces.
In one of her studies involving parents of 96 children diagnosed with ADHD, Dr Kuo found a significant relationship between the parents' ratings of their children's symptoms, and the play setting -- the greener the play environment, the better the children's functioning.
Melbourne-based researcher, Kathleen Bagot has worked with Dr Kuo and is investigating the effects of green play in children.
"European studies show that children tend to be stronger, more flexible, and have better motor coordination skills and balance from playing in forest-like playgrounds compared to asphalt ones," Ms Bagot says.
Her research is examining children's ability to pay attention in class after play periods in asphalt-dominated and vegetation-dominated playgrounds.
Her study of about 500 children in 14 schools across Melbourne shows that the higher the level of vegetation in the school yard, the more highly children rate that environment as ‘restorative’.
And, she says, those children giving their playground a higher rating had better attention scores in the classroom after playing in that environment.
The reason? "Greener playgrounds elicit fascination, which is an effortless type of interest, rather than concentration, which can be hard work," explains Bagot.
"Green playgrounds offer more of a contrast to classrooms than built playgrounds and children report they are able to do more things … in greener playgrounds. This makes their play period more refreshing and their attention performance increases more."
Green Mental Health Benefits for Adults too
The mental health benefits of physical activity in green environments also extend to adults experiencing mental health problems.
A small study by the University of Essex commissioned by UK mental health charity Mind compared the benefits of a 30-minute walk in a country park with a walk in an indoor shopping centre on a group of 20 people with depression.
After the country walk, 71 per cent reported decreased levels of depression and said they felt less tense while 90 per cent reported increased self-esteem.
In contrast, only 45 per cent experienced a decrease in depression after the shopping centre walk.
In its report on Ecotherapy, Mind recommends that ‘green exercise’ be considered as a clinically valid treatment option for people experiencing mental distress.
See also: The Benefits of Enjoying Nature
