We have spent probably 99.99 percent of our time as a species on Earth living outdoors in natural environments. Are there health benefits to coming back and being surrounded by nature from time to time? That’s the question urban planners have asked. “Are people who live in areas with more greenery healthier than people who live in areas with less greenery?” Should I put it in a park or another parking lot?
“In a greener environment, people report fewer symptoms of illness and are more aware of their overall health. People’s mental health also appears to be significantly better. ” In fact, “assuming there is a causal relationship between green space and health, a 10% increase in green space in the living environment would reduce the number of symptoms equivalent to a decrease in age by 5 years.” That’s a major premise.
Still, we can imagine some potential mechanisms as to why this is the case. That could mean less air pollution, and air pollution is no joke. It is the fifth leading cause of death on earth, killing approximately 5 million people annually. Of course, our biggest risk factor is our diet, as you can see below and at 1:18 of my video “Are There Health Benefits of Spending Time in Nature?” , twice as many people die from this.
Therefore, it may be an anti-pollution effect. Or maybe there’s something special about simply getting more exercise and experiencing the green spaces that lie ahead. Perhaps the simplest explanation is that the natural environment “simply promotes health-promoting behaviors rather than providing specific, direct health benefits.” If there is no park, it will be difficult to jog to the park. Ironically, even when people have access to nature, they don’t always seem to take advantage of it. And even if there were a link, “questions remain about the possibility of a ‘self-selection’ phenomenon; whether natural environments elicit increased physical activity and feelings of well-being, or whether physically active people Do you choose to live in an area where there is opportunity for physical activity? ” What I wanted to know was that “apart from promoting physical activity,” “exposure to the natural environment has additional health benefits.”
It’s true that just exposure to sunlight can treat things like Seasonal Affective Disorder and provide us with the sunlight vitamin, vitamin D, but are there any other unique benefits? We’ll never know until we test it. No. However, some of the research is ridiculous. Considering “The Relationship between Vegetation and Academic Achievement in Student Environments Across the Continental United States” At first, I thought this study was about academic achievement and vegetarianism, but that’s not the case. It’s about vegetation. The researchers found a “positive relationship between non-forest vegetation and school graduation rates.” Maybe the Ivy League’s advantage comes from the ivy?
A study entitled “The view out the window may influence recovery from surgery” is starting to make things even more interesting. As you can see below and at 3:04 in my video, trees were visible from some patient rooms in the suburban hospital, and brick walls were visible from others. “Twenty-three surgical patients assigned to rooms with windows overlooking the natural landscape had shorter postoperative hospital stays than the same 23 patients in similar rooms with windows facing the wall of a brick building. “They also took fewer strong painkillers.” This cannot be attributed to the effect of vitamin D.
What happens just by looking at a tree? Maybe it’s “vitamin G” and it’s actually green. We know how healthy eating vegetables is. What about just watching? Researchers had people exercise while watching a natural green environment, the same video in black and white, or a video with everything tinted red, and found no difference (red color made people angry). except that). You can watch it below and at 3:46 of my video.
The most interesting mechanism suggested that I have come across is fractals. For example, have you ever noticed that in a tree, every branch, from the largest to the smallest, is a miniature version of the entire tree? Each branch has a similar shape to the entire tree. Fractal patterns are found everywhere in nature, showing that “cascades of self-similar patterns across different magnification scales construct inherently complex visual stimuli.” And, as you can see when connected to an electroencephalograph, our brains also seem to like it.
Regardless of the mechanism, if we take all the controlled studies of using nature as a health promotion intervention together, they tend to show mainly psychological benefits, but the results related to physical outcomes are less consistent. It wasn’t. “The most common type of research findings were self-report measures of various emotions.” For example, does staring at a kiwifruit orchard or a building make you feel better? (see below and my video) (See 4:41 of ) It is clumsily described as a comparison between “synthetic and organic stimuli”, perhaps due to the language barrier.
As you can see below and at 5:00 of my video, natural environments may make people more alert and less sad, but when it comes to objective measures like blood pressure, no significant effects were found. did. People who exercise outdoors often say they feel good, and after just five minutes out in the woods, “green exercise activities can improve a variety of psychological outcomes, including “mood, focus, and energy.” It suggests that the scale may increase.
However, these studies tended not to be randomized trials. The researchers just asked people who were already exploring nature what they thought about it, so it’s no wonder they prefer it. Otherwise they wouldn’t be there. But nature-based interventions are low-cost, often actually free, and non-invasive (unless you count mosquitoes). So if you want to get a “natural high,” I say, do whatever makes you happy. (Not all green campaigners like trees; golfers just see them as obstacles.)
For more information about air pollution, watch my video The best foods to combat the effects of air pollution and The role of pesticides and pollution in autism.
Of course, there are benefits to any type of exercise, indoors or outdoors. See related posts below.
