Nature and well-being
More than half of the world’s population currently lives in urban areas, and it’s projected that by 2050 7 billion people will be living in urban areas. A North American study even found that the average American spends 90% of their time indoors. This is worrying because a positive relationship between nature and our health has been found in many studies and evidence showing this positive impact has grown considerably during the past few decades. Theories for why this might be the case focus on differing aspects such as evolution, stress reduction or attention restoration.
Some authors say that this positive association with nature is due to evolution. American biologist Edward O. Wilson proposed in his book Biophilia (1984) that the connection humans have with nature has a genetic basis and is rooted in our evolutionary history. Etymologically speaking, biophilia, the title of the book means “love of living things”. Technological advances during the 19th and 20th centuries had a significant impact on the relationship between nature and humanity, decreasing our drive to interact with natural spaces. And yet, contact with nature is vital for our physical and mental health. “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order”, John Burroughs.
The belief that nature holds therapeutic effects on our health goes back many centuries. Hippocrates highlighted the importance of “air, waters, and places” for our overall well-being, and ancient Roman texts recognised the health benefits of green spaces. In 1991 Roger Ulrich developed the Stress Reduction Theory (SRT) based on a study where the participants viewed a stressful movie, and then were exposed to colour and sound videos of different natural and urban settings. SRT claims that natural environments, those that contain vegetation and water, provided resources and a safe haven from predators and therefore were highly beneficial. In modern times, this translates to an unconscious reduction of stress when we’re in green spaces.
Another theory is the Attention Restoration Theory, or ART, developed by Rachel and Stephen Kaplan in the 1980s, which outlines the restorative and positive effect nature has on our minds. According to ART, urban settings affect our concentration, saturating us with information from screens and constant signals (noise, sounds, lights, etc.) that require constant ‘voluntary attention’. This voluntary attention requires effort, and depends on the inhibition of other stimuli, which leads to fatigue. Nature does not engage voluntary attention, rather it creates what William James (1892) referred to as ‘fascination’ or ‘involuntary attention’, such as watching the clouds drift, the leaves sway, or water trickle. Nature provides moments of peace where we can recover from mental fatigue, making us feel better, and giving us back the ability to pay attention and be creative.
While stress is not always bad, and is caused by daily life events, the reduction of chronic stress is crucial for our health- especially to prevent more common mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders. In urban settings, we are overloaded with complex, intense, and threatening stimuli, such as crowds, polluted air, and sudden noises. Studies have repeatedly found that being in natural settings is more effective in reducing blood pressure, anger, engendering greater feelings of revitalisation and improving our mood when compared to urban settings.
A survey conducted during 2020, found a sustained increase in adults spending time in green spaces, with 67% of adults having spent time outdoors in July compared with 49% in April. Additionally, 85% of the participants of this survey claimed that ‘being in nature makes them happy’, 75% mentioned that they were trying to engage more with nature, and 42% reported that nature was important for their wellbeing. With lockdown restrictions easing, here at FitQuid we aim to motivate our community to spend time outdoors, engaging with nature, to keep our mind and brain healthy. We believe it is now more important than ever to enjoy the benefits of being in natural environments, from gardens to national parks.
