Experiencing nature protects mental health
A stay in nature can promote well-being and concentration - even without prior stress.
Spending time in nature strengthens well-being and concentration. And this is true even if one did not feel exhausted or stressed beforehand. This is the central finding of a study published in the "Journal of Environmental Psychology".
For the review, Johanna Prugger and Simone Kühn from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin evaluated 54 studies with a total of 61 experiments. These had investigated how natural and urban environments influence mood, feelings of recovery, and cognitive performance. Spending time in nature consistently had a positive effect. The scientists also analyzed the extent to which participants in the studies were specifically stressed beforehand or not.
Most studies dealt with the question of how nature can contribute to recovery from stress and psychological strain. The focus was thus on its regenerative effect. Only eight of the 54 studies investigated whether natural environments are beneficial even without prior exhaustion – and thus can represent a resource for mental health.
"Environmental psychology has for many years been strongly shaped by the question of how nature helps people after stress or exhaustion," explains author Johanna Prugger in a press release. "Our analysis suggests that we may have overlooked a more fundamental mechanism of action." The results indicate that it is worthwhile to focus more on the strengthening effects of nature on mood, attention, and well-being.
Spektrum der Wissenschaft
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Original article on Spektrum.de
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