Recharge your brain with nature

Posted on Sat, 10 May 14

By studying several thousand visits to different natural environments in England researchers have shown that time in nature restores depleted emotional and cognitive health, and the more natural the environment the better.

By examining data from Natural England's Monitoring Engagement with the Natural Environment (MENE) survey researchers set out to answer two questions; (1) does visiting natural environments increase feelings of restoration (calm, relaxed, revitalized and refreshed) and (2) do more natural environments such as woodlands have a stronger restorative effect than more urban green spaces such as urban parks?

The study found that of the many different types of environmental categories coastal locations, woodlands and forests, and hills, moorlands and mountains were associated with the most restoration and town and urban parks and playing fields with the least.

Increasing research demonstrates that time in natural environments has important mental and emotional health benefits beyond physical activity.

“These findings may aid policy makers interested in improving population well-being by helping them target scarce resources towards improving access and maintaining the quality of specific environment types associated with the largest gains in emotional restoration” conclude the study investigators.

Reference:

White MP, et al. Feelings of restoration from recent nature visits. Journal of Environmental Psychology. 2013: Volume 35, Pages 40–51. - link to abstract