Outdoor Recreation, Health, and Wellness: Understanding and Enhancing the Relationship
- Author(s): Geoffrey Godbey www.geoffreygodbey.com
- Organization: Resources for the Future: Outdoor Resources Review Group
- Date Published: May 2, 2009
The research literature on outdoor recreation as it relates to human health is vast and growing. To help policymakers take new and emerging findings into account when designing recreation and park services and initiatives for the 21st century, this paper summarizes the salient issues and identifies research gaps. It considers how being outside in natural surroundings may improve health and how outdoor physical activities benefit participants. Particular attention is given to children’s health problems that can be mitigated through outdoor play, sports, and nature study. The paper describes approaches to measuring physical activity and recent trends in park visitation and outdoor activity participation. It looks at variables that affect participation in outdoor activities and considers the projected demographic changes that will affect policy making in this arena. The findings of this literature review point to potential new directions for outdoor recreation policy, as well as new policy questions to be explored.
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 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.
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
Repositioning Children’s Developmental Needs in Space Planning: A Review of Connection to Nature
- Author(s): Mustapa, Nor Diyana, Maliki, Nor Zarifah, and Hamzah, Aswati.
- Organization: Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences. 170: 330-339. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.043
- Date Published: May 1, 2015
Play and experience in the nature contributes to children’s cognitive, physical and social development, restores positive emotion, develops sense of place, empathy and care for nature, and associates positively with environmental attitude and behaviour. This paper presents a review on benefits of nature on children’s developmental needs. The review also highlights children’s experiences in nature and effects of disconnection from the nature. In summary, it is crucial to understand children’s view towards nature and environment in creating spaces that reconnect them with nature. Designing for children today is indeed designing for the future, as well.
Synopsis of 2010 Research Papers: The Key Benefits
- Author(s): National Recreation and Park Association http://www.nrpa.org
- Organization: National Recreation and Park Association http://www.nrpa.org
- Date Published: December 31, 2010
This report summarizes the key categories in which parks and recreation contribute to building of healthy, vibrant communities. This white paper outlines in six main areas the latest research into the benefits
provided by parks: physical health, mental health, social functioning, youth development, environment, and economic impact.