For a while now, there have been many questions regarding how nature can affect a person in their day-to-day life. Nature's effects on people have been studied in many different ways, but one consistent finding is that nature can play a key role in a person’s health and attention. One possible linking factor between both results is likely to be how nature can help reduce stress, which is tied to many health problems and can cause a deficit in a person's attention and memory.
One study that focused on how greenspace affects a person's health was written in an article by Jillian Mock, which illustrated that the more exposure a person got to greenspace, the healthier they were both mentally and physically. The author points out how a reduction in stress is a commonality between theories regarding exactly how nature improves a person’s health. Two main theories are discussed in this article, the first of which being, “Stress Reduction Theory” (Mock, 2022), which is about how nature engages a person’s parasympathetic system, responsible for rest and digest as well as encouraging stress recovery. The other theory is called the “Attention Restoration Theory” (Mock, 2022), which is very similar to the other paper discussing how nature gives our directed attention a break, so we can be more focused afterwards. People that live near greenspace have lower health care costs regardless of other factors affecting health. Health care professionals have even nature prescribed some of their patients with ParkRX, which is a way to help get the patients outside and in nature. The authors were not sure if a certain landscape is more beneficial, or if being pressured to visit nature would still have similar or negative effects on a person.
The study conducted by Berman et al. (2019) demonstrates how people exposed to nature vs those exposed to a more urban setting had an increase in working memory and other cognitive functions. This is illustrated through multiple tests where participants were separated into two groups then sent on a walk, one in a heavily populated urban setting, and the other in a nature setting. The participants would then walk the opposite route they originally had the following week, and both weeks all the participants received the BDS test. Regardless of the order of the urban and nature settings the participants walked in, the results were the same in that there was an increase in test scores after the nature walk. This study is closely related to the “Attention Restoration Theory” discussed in the study by Mock, due to Berman believing that the greenspace is engaging our indirected attention, allowing our directed attention to take a break, and rejuvenating a person’s working memory and attention.
Ultimately, there should be more greenspace available and easily accessible for all communities. Providing more greenspace in especially busy communities could help promote quality work due to the person paying more attention to what they are doing and not just trying to get their work done. In addition, adding more greenspace would allow people to live a more fulfilling life because they are less likely to get sick and visit the doctors regularly allowing more time for them to spend with loved ones.
Berman, Marc G., et al. “Environmental Neuroscience.” American Psychologist, vol. 74, no. 9, 22 Oct. 2019, pp. 1039–1052., https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000583.
Mock, J. (2022, April 28). Why Doctors Are Prescribing Nature Walks. Time. Retrieved October 14, 2022, from https://time.com/6171174/nature-stress-benefits-doctors/
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