How connecting with nature benefits our mental health
Nature is an important need for many and vital in keeping us emotionally, psychologically and physically healthy.
Regarding mental health benefits, nature has a very wide definition. It can mean green spaces like parks, woodland or forests and blue spaces like rivers, wetlands, beaches or canals. It also includes trees on an urban street, private gardens, verges and even indoor plants or window boxes. Surprisingly, even watching nature documentaries is good for our mental health. This is great news as it means the mental health benefits of nature can be made available to nearly every one of us, no matter where we live.
This report provides a summary of the evidence of how and why our relationship with nature is so important and beneficial to our mental health. The report highlights the unequal access to nature’s benefits for specific groups and the steps needed to address that inequality.
Nature has played a critical role in our mental health during the pandemic
Quality counts. Connecting with nature is critical
People with good nature connectedness tend to be happier
Green and serene. We benefit from “high quality” nature spaces
Nature is everywhere, but high quality nature isn’t available equally
The key message of this research evidence is a need to shift our attention from getting people to visit natural and sometimes remote spaces to focus on how people can tune in and connect with “everyday” nature close to home through simple activities. We can develop a new relationship with the natural world by noticing nature, which has been found to bring benefits to mental health.
main text link:
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-06/MHAW21-Nature-research-report.pdf
