Andy’s Quick Hits (174): Nature boosted mental health during the pandemic

I have reported multiple times on the positive benefits of nature on your health (here for example). This study by the University of Colorado Boulder surveyed about 1’200 people in Denver and asked questions on mental health, proximity to green space, and time spent outdoors. They also matched this to satellite data to measure subjectively green space in proximity to respondents.

Most of what they found was unsurprising: namely that mental health deteriorated during the pandemic and that this was related to impact of the pandemic on them such as lost income, or jobs, not to mention falling sick with COVID-19.

But the interesting outcome was that those who actually used the green space more i.e. by getting out and into it, had significantly lower anxiety and depression.

As senior author Colleen Reid said, “This research shows how critical it is to keep parks and green spaces open in times of crisis,” and “It also shows that, as a public health measure, more effort should be made to put in green spaces and make them accessible.”.

Moreover, and importantly, they controlled for socioeconomic factors because having more green space could just mean you are more affluent (and healthier) and have more access to green space — access to green areas helps…