Research Finds Positive Mental Health Effect of Green Outdoors During Pandemic
Sourced from The Print
A recent University of Colorado Boulder research has found some positive impacts of green surroundings on people’s health mental health.
The study, published in the journal ‘PLOS One’, found that people exposed to more green space during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic reported significantly less depression and anxiety.
The study also found that at a time when health”>mental health problems soared due to financial woes, supply shortages and nonstop news coverage of the virus, people sought solace in the great outdoors, with one-third spending more time there than they did pre-COVID.
“This research shows how critical it is to keep parks and green spaces open in times of crisis,” said senior author Colleen Reid, an assistant professor of geography in the Institute for Behavioral Science. “It also shows that, as a public health measure, more effort should be made to put in green spaces and make them accessible.”
For the study, the authors presented about 1,200 Denver-area residents with a 30-minute survey gauging their health”>mental health and their perceptions of green space near their home, including how much there was, whether they could see it, whether it was accessible, how much they used it and its quality.
They also collected aerial satellite imagery to objectively quantify greenery in respondents’ neighbourhoods.
From the Living Architecture Monitor
