Parks and Other Green Environments: Essential Components of a Healthy Human Habitat
- Author(s): Frances Kuo
- Organization: National Recreation and Park Association (http://www.nrpa.org/)
- Date Published: January 1, 2010
Access to nature, whether it is in the form of bona fide natural areas or in bits or views of nature, impacts psychological, as well as social functioning. Greater access to green views and green environments yields better cognitive functioning; more proactive, more effective patterns of life functioning; more self-discipline and more impulse control; greater mental health overall; and greater resilience in response to stressful life events. Less access to nature is linked to exacerbated attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms, more sadness and higher rates of clinical depression. People with less access to nature are more prone to stress and anxiety, as reflected not only by individuals’s self-report but also measures of pulse rate, blood pressure, and stress-related patterns of nervous system and endocrine system anxiety, as well as physician-diagnosed anxiety disorders.
The impacts of parks and green environments on human health extend beyond social and psychological health outcomes to include physical health outcomes. Greener environments enhance recovery from surgery, enable and support higher levels of physical activity, improve immune system functioning, help diabetics achieve healthier blood glucose levels, and improve functional health status and independent living skills among older adults. By contrast, environments with less green are associated with greater rates of childhood obesity; higher rates of 15 out of 24 categories of physician-diagnosed diseases, including cardiovascular diseases; and higher rates of mortality in younger and older adults. Most important, all of these studies take into account the role that income might play in an apparent link between access to nature and physical health outcomes. While it is true that richer people tend to have both greater access to nature and better physical health outcomes, the comparisons here show that people of the same socioeconomic status who have greater access to nature have better physical health outcomes.
Parks and Trails Health Impact Assessment Toolkit
- Author(s): Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
- Organization: Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
- Date Published: November 1, 2014
The Parks and Trails Health Impact Assessment (HIA) Toolkit has six components to empower individuals and help community planners address health when designing parks and trails. This framework allows public health departments, city planners, project managers, community groups, and other stakeholders work together to create healthier environments.
Parks Are Part of Our Healthcare System.
- Author(s): J. Green
- Organization: American Society of Landscape Architects http://www.asla.org/
- Date Published: August 1, 2012
This article highlights several “programs show that parks not only provide a safe place for people (and especially kids) in dangerous neighborhoods but are possibly key to their health and wellbeing. However, park space alone isn’t enough. The park programs are equally as critical. Without these opportunities, Messiah said, kids in these dangerous neighborhoods just sit inside, playing video games, eating junk food, growing into sedentary unhealthy adults disconnected from nature. While the investments needed clearly don’t need to be huge, parks still must be competitive in making their pitches in this tough financing environment.
http://dirt.asla.org/2012/08/01/parks-are-part-of-our-healthcare-system/
Parks Build Healthy Communities: Success Stories
- Organization: National Recreation and Park Association http://www.nrpa.org/
- Date Published: January 6, 2014
“This publication collects the best and most successful strategies over the last three years that have proved effective for building healthy communities through parks and recreation. Our hope is that the case studies offer valuable
insights for others seeking to take a stand and become leaders in their community for fighting the battle of obesity and other health issues that are challenging our country. By sharing this information, other communities can replicate these successes and make new innovations to improve the quality of life in their local areas. They can also further demonstrate the power parks and recreation has for inspiring and creating a healthy, and prosperous nation.”
Parks Prescriptions-How Parks are Part of the Health Care System
- Author(s): National Parks Service
- Organization: National Parks Service
- Date Published: January 30, 2014
This YouTube video describes how the National Park Service’s (NPS) Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance program is working with doctors, healthcare providers, and NPS managers as part of the Healthy Parks Healthy People (HPHP); Greater Washington Area Initiative (DC, VA, MD, and WV). Doctors are prescribing park or nature prescriptions to patients so they can improve their health, connect with the outdoors, and become park stewards.
ParticipACTION
- Author(s): ParticipACTION
- Organization: ParticipACTION http://www.participaction.com/
- Date Published: January 2, 2014
This site offers lots of easy ideas on how to become more physically active. The suggestions are categorized by activity type and population.
http://www.participaction.com/get-moving/easy-ways-to-start/
Physical Activity and Performance at School
- Author(s): Amika Singh, Leonie Uijdewilligen, Jos Twisk, et al.
- Organization: Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine
- Date Published: January 1, 2012
Evidence from the studies included in the present systematic review and its methodological quality assessment suggests that there is a significant positive relationship between physical activity and academic performance. Nevertheless, we must stress that only 2 of 14 studies were rated as being of high methodological quality, which is the minimum number of studies needed for strong evidence.
However, both high-quality studies supported our hypothesis of physical activity being positively related to academic performance in children. The main strengths of this review are (1) its extensive literature search and (2) its inclusion of longitudinal and intervention studies only. Because of the latter strength, it is difficult to compare our review with previous reviews. Our findings support the cautious conclusion of a positive relationship between physical activity and academic performance suggested by the 2 previous reviews.
Planning for health: A community-based spatial analysis of park availability and chronic disease across the lifespan
- Author(s): Gina Besenyi, Andrew Kaczynski, Sonja Wilhelm Stanis, Ryan Bergstrom, Joseph Lightner, J. Aaron Hipp
- Organization: Health Place v 27, May 2014 pages 102-115
- Date Published: May 1, 2014
The purpose of this study was to explore the spatial relationship between park availability and chronic health conditions (CHCs) across age groups in Kansas City, MO. Multinomial logistic regression examined the association between having a park within one-half mile from home and the likelihood of having 0, 1, or 2 or more CHCs. Among respondents aged 40-59, those without a park within one-half mile from home were more than twice as likely to have 2 or more CHCs compared to respondents that had a park nearby. Parks may be an important protective factor for chronic diseases, especially among middle-aged adults among whom access to neighborhood recreational environments may be particularly important.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1353829214000264
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