Benefits of Nature Immersion on Human Wellbeing

Hi Veronica,

We are looking at the benefits of a nature based preschool and have seen a fair bit of work on kids and the benefits to them of being out in nature and exploring the world around them. One of the books that really started this journey for us is Last Child in the Woods. Although it's a bit older now, it's both well written and lays out strong arguments for nature inclusion. http://richardlouv.com/books/last-child/

Hope that helps,
Karen

Karen Mason-Bennett
Program Coordinator
NEAT
Canada

You'll have to pull the studies out of these articles, but Treehugger has been focusing on this topic for many years:
http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/new-research-shows-cognitive-benefits-of-natural-areas.html
http://www.treehugger.com/health/study-shows-walk-park-fixes-fuzzy-brain.html
http://www.treehugger.com/health/effect-urban-green-spaces-wellbeing-comparable-employment-and-marriage.html

Kind regards,

Mike



Michael Driedger
Program Director
Summerhill
Canada

Hi Veronica,

You might want to check out "Beyond Blue to Green". It is a 2010 report put out by Townsend and Weerasuriya out of Deakin University. They did a nice job of summarizing the literature on the health benefits of nature up until the date of their report. Their report is available for free online. Here is the link: https://das.bluestaronline.com.au/api/prism/document?token=BL/0817

Take care,

Nancy


Nancy Prober
Canada

Hi Veronica,

You can find some great resources (also mainly focused on kids) on the Children & Nature Network's webpage. They have done some great work synthesizing research and providing abstracts with the main findings, so you can easily find studies that are of interest to you.
http://www.childrenandnature.org/documents/C118/

There was a conference in Vancouver on this topic ("Healthy by Nature") a few years back, and they've still got some good resources and links to other relevant sites posted on their webpage:
http://healthybynature.ca/resources.php

One of the speakers that was most compelling for me was Frances Kuo, who's done some really interesting studies in this area.
http://lhhl.illinois.edu/

All the best in finding what you're looking for.



Colleen Gillespie
Environmental Programs Coordinator
City of Surrey
Canada

Hi Veronica
I wrote about this in my newsletter a few years ago, with links to a number of studies. Go to the Sept 2010 one at http://awake.com.au/newsletter/2010-archive/
Cheers

Tim

Tim Cotter
Awake
Australia
www.awake.com.au

In Canada, the David Suzuki Foundation is running the "30 x 30 Challenge" through the month of May. For the Challenge, participants commit to spending 30 minutes outside for 30 days. On their website they have this infographic (sources at the bottom), outlining the benefits of spending time in nature: http://30x30.davidsuzuki.org/whats-in-it-for-you-2/

They are also doing there own study on the effects that the Challenge will have on individuals. People do a survey at the beginning of the month and there will be another survey when the month is over. It may be worthwhile to contact someone there for their findings.

Alison Carlyle
Canada

Hi Veronica,
The Fuller Lab at University of Queensland are doing great research in this area, data for Brisbane City. A couple references below, but find more at their web site http://www.fullerlab.org/category/current_research/

Also try papers and presentation from Parks and Leisure Australia.

Cheers, Helena Malawkin
Redland City Council

Lin, B.B., Fuller, R.A., Bush, R., Gaston, K.J. & Shanahan, D.F. 2014. Opportunity or Orientation? Who uses urban parks and why. PLoS ONE, 9, e87422.

Shanahan, D.F., Lin, B.B., Gaston, K.J., Bush, R. & Fuller, R.A. 2014. Socio-economic inequalities in access to nature on public and private lands: A case study from Brisbane, Australia. Landscape and Urban Planning, 130, 14-23.

Shanahan, D.F., Strohbach, M.W., Warren, P.S. & Fuller, R.A. 2014. The challenges of urban living. Pp. 3-20 in: D. Gil & H. Brumm (eds) Avian Urban Ecology, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.



Helena  Malawkin
Senior Adviser Environment
Redland City Council
Australia

Hi Veronica,

The New Zealand Department of Conservation recently published a review of the health and wellbeing benefits of conservation. It focusses on aspects such as visiting the outdoors and conservation volunteering. You can access the report here http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/documents/science-and-technical/sfc321entire.pdf

I have copied the abstract below.

"Despite a long-held popular belief that nature is healthy for people, exactly how or even whether this is true has only recently been subject to scientific scrutiny. This report reviews key literature relevant to the relationship between conservation and health and wellbeing (HWB) benefits, with a particular focus on public conservation areas (PCAs) managed by the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC). The review takes a broad approach both to the types of natural environments that may offer HWB benefits and to the scope of HWB. Overall, there is a large body of internationally relevant modern research that suggests that exposure to natural environments has direct positive effects on human HWB. However, much of this research was either anecdotal or descriptive. Of the relatively small number of experimental studies that have rigorously tested differences between natural and non-natural settings, many of the positive effects were not statistically significant or related to very small sample groups. Therefore, further investigation of activities undertaken in PCAs and their HWB outcomes is required to better understand conservation/human HWB relationships in New Zealand. The report identifies sources of data and expertise that are required to further analyse the relationships between conservation investment and human health, discusses the value of conservation investment as measured by health outcomes, and describes measures that would improve the alignment between conservation management and potential HWB benefits in New Zealand. Recommendations focus on requirements for research relevant to New Zealand natural areas, and the need for an integrated approach between DOC, other managers of public natural areas, and managers and stakeholders in the health and volunteering sectors."

Michael Harbrow
Social Science Advisor (Recreation)
Department of Conservation
New Zealand
www.doc.govt.nz