How might contact with nature promote human health? Promising mechanisms and a possible central pathway
- Author(s): Frances Ming Kuo
- Date Published: August 25, 2015
How might contact with nature promote human health? Myriad studies have linked the two; at this time the task of identifying the mechanisms underlying this link is paramount. This article offers: (1) a compilation of plausible pathways between nature and health; (2) criteria for identifying a possible central pathway; and (3) one promising candidate for a central pathway. Enhanced immune functioning emerges as one promising candidate for a central pathway between nature and health. There may be others.
Is Active Play Extinct? The 2012 Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth.
- Author(s): Active Healthy Kids Canada http://www.activehealthykids.ca/
- Organization: Active Healthy Kids Canada http://www.activehealthykids.ca/
- Date Published: January 1, 2012
This reports cover story sites statistics on the steady decline in play among children and offers recommendations for increasing opportunities for play.
Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from the Nature-Deficit Disorder
- Author(s): Richard Louv
- Organization: Algonquin Books
- Date Published: January 1, 2005
While studies are accumulating, more research needs to be done, including establishing baselines and defining what constitutes meaningful experiences in nature. Direct measures are needed of children’s actual time in nature and the quality of their experiences in the natural world. Despite the number of studies and other findings described below, the relationship between children and nature has been understudied. Much of the research to date has been limited, although the body of research overall is generally consistent and provides insights into both the indicators of the nature deficit in children’s lives, and the benefits to children’s healthy development by direct experiences with nature in their everyday lives.
http://www.childrenandnature.org/downloads/CNNEvidenceoftheDeficit.pdf
Literature Review on the Benefits of Access to Outdoor Environments for Older People
- Author(s): Susana Alves, Takemi Sugiama
- Organization: OPEN Space Research Centre (http://www.openspace.eca.ac.uk/)
- Date Published: January 1, 2006
This review found multiple benefits associated with access to outdoor environments for older people, including benefits associated with physical activity and social interaction in these environments.
http://www.idgo.ac.uk/useful_resources/for_other_researchers.htm
Natural Thinking: Investigating the links between the Natural Environment, Biodiversity and Mental Health
- Author(s): William Bird
- Organization: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds http://www.rspb.org.uk
- Date Published: December 31, 2007
This report, commissioned by the RSPB, looks at the evidence linking wildlife-rich areas and green space with mental health. Past generations have intuitively understood this relationship, perhaps better than we do, yet the evidence needed to quantify the health value of the natural environment is still evolving.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/naturalthinking_tcm9-161856.pdf
Nature is there; it’s free: Urban greenspace and the social determinants of health of immigrant families
- Author(s): Shawn Renee Harduk, Jill Hanley, Eric Richard
- Organization: Health and Place
- Date Published: July 2, 2015
In this article, the authors draw on a 2012 Montreal-based study that examined the embodied, every day practices of immigrant children and families in the context of urban greenspaces such as parks, fields, backyards, streetscapes, gardens, forests and rivers. Results suggest that activities in the natural environment serve as a protective factor in the health and well-being of this population, providing emotional and physical nourishment in the face of adversity. Using the Social Determinants of Health model adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO, 1998), they analyze how participants accessed urban nature to minimize the effects of inadequate housing, to strengthen social cohesion and reduce emotional stress. They conclude with a discussion supporting the inclusion of the natural environment in the Social Determinants of Health Model
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1353829215000507#
Nature, Childhood, Health and Life Pathways.
- Author(s): Jules Pretty, et al.
- Organization: University of Essex, Interdisciplinary Centre for Environment and Society. http://www.essex.ac.uk/esi/
- Date Published: December 31, 2009
This paper examines the importance between the quality of exposure to open green space and access to nature and the wellbeing of children.
Neighborhood greenspace and health in a large urban center
- Author(s): Omid Kardan, Peter Gozdyra, Bratislav Misic et call
- Organization: Scientific Reports
- Date Published: July 9, 2015
Studies have shown that natural environments can enhance health and here the authors build upon that work by examining the associations between comprehensive greenspace metrics and health. They focused on a large urban population center (Toronto, Canada) and related the two domains by combining high-resolution satellite imagery and individual tree data from Toronto with questionnaire-based self-reports of general health perception, cardio-metabolic conditions and mental illnesses from the Ontario Health Study. Results from multiple regressions and multivariate canonical correlation analyses suggest that people who live in neighborhoods with a higher density of trees on their streets report significantly higher health perception and significantly less cardio-metabolic conditions (controlling for socio-economic and demographic factors).
http://www.nature.com/srep/2015/150709/srep11610/full/srep11610.html