Mental Health News: Nature around home plays a key role in reducing adverse mental health outcomes due to the pandemic and the measures taken to slow the virus.
Researchers in Tokyo, Japan aimed to investigate how nature can relieve people during these unsettling times. They conducted an online questionnaire survey involving 3,000 adults. They quantified the link between five mental health outcomes (depression, self-esteem, life satisfaction, subjective happiness, and loneliness) and two measures of nature experiences (frequency of green space use and green view through windows from home). Sociodemographic and lifestyle variables, were taken into account
The results showed that the frequency of greenspace use and the existence of green window views from within the home was associated with increased levels of self-esteem, life satisfaction, and subjective happiness and decreased levels of depression, anxiety, and loneliness.
The study findings published in Ecological Applications, highlight that being in touch with nature helps people overcome a wide range of mental health issues. These results have important implications for policy, suggesting that urban nature can be used as “nature-based solution” for improved public health.
To Know More, You May Refer To:
Soga, M., Evans, M. J., Tsuchiya, K., & Fukano, Y. (2020). A room with a green view: The importance of nearby nature for mental health during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Ecological Applications, 31(2). https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2248
