People who live in contact with nature have better mental health

A study finds greater psychological well-being among those who enjoy natural environments.

Since awareness of the importance of preserving nature has spread around the world, so has the idea that being in contact with natural environments is healthy. The contemplative life associated with walks in the woods and resting under the trees. However, it is one thing to believe that nature walks are subjectively pleasurable, and another to believe that they can have objective effects on our health and well-being.

A recent publication in the journal Nature sheds some light on the matter. According to its conclusions, walks in natural spaces away from the influence of human beings are associated with better mental and physical healthprovided they are long enough.

Humans in nature: more than just a pleasant time

The study, based on questionnaires, included questions related to the frequency of visits to natural environments and the quality of these environments (more or less removed from human intervention), as well as four dimensions of health: mental health, social cohesion, physical activity and blood pressure. These four dimensions have been linked to findings from previous studies similar to this one, and the aim was to test whether similar results could be obtained.

As for the sample used, the group of people studied consisted of 1,538 individuals living in the Australian city of Brisbane, Australia..

A clear improvement in our happiness

The results reveal that people who walk more often alone in wild environments show a lower tendency to suffer from depression and hypertension (a risk factor for heart disease), as well as less stress. People who came into contact with nature more frequently also had a significantly higher level of social cohesion.

However, the benefits associated with mental health and Blood Pressure are revealed as long as the duration of the nature walks is long enough.. Thus, the potential benefits of wilderness prowling would be obtained with doses of at least half an hour of nature walks, not less. The frequency of these walks could be at least weekly, and could take place in large parks in which to escape momentarily from the surrounding urban environment.

How can this be explained?

This is not the first study linking contact with nature and psychological benefits. For example, research links the integration of schools in green spaces with better academic performance of their students. However, it is important to note it is important to note that this study is not based on an experiment, and only limits itself to presenting correlations between variables..

Among the ideas proposed by members of the research team is that if everyone visited a park for half an hour once a week, cases of depression could be reduced by half an hour, cases of depression could be reduced by 7%, but the truth is that this is not certain.. People who walk in natural areas show less depression, but this does not necessarily mean that it is these walks that produce these improvements: perhaps there is some as yet unknown factor that is usually present in people who do this activity and that is what produces the good mental and physical state found in this study. Correlation does not imply causation.

However, there are also explanations for possible mechanisms by which it may be these walks that directly improve people's standard of living. Among them, the fact that in natural areas the air is of better quality and less polluted, that wilderness areas have better air quality and are less pollutedThe fact that wilderness areas have more unevenness and crossing them involves more physical activity, protection from the sun in shaded areas. All this would translate into better health, related to the appearance of mental disorders.

These possibilities make the findings of this study relevant to programs aimed at preventing disease and decreasing its prevalence. Considering how inexpensive it is to walk in parks, it is worthwhile for us as individuals and for health institutions to give this option a chance, it is worthwhile for us as individuals and for health care institutions to give this option a chance..