LONDON (Dispatches)-Smartphone-based technology has been used to assess the relationship between nature in cities and momentary mental wellbeing in real time.
Researchers at King's College London, landscape architects J & L Gibbons and art foundation Nomad Projects found that firstly, being outdoors, seeing trees, hearing birdsong, seeing the sky, and feeling in contact with nature were associated with higher levels of mental wellbeing, and that secondly, the beneficial effects of nature were especially evident in those individuals with greater levels of impulsivity who are at greater risk of mental health issues. The researchers developed a Smartphone-based app, Urban Mind, to examine how exposure to natural features in cities affects a person's mental wellbeing.
The Urban Mind app monitored 108 individuals who collectively completed 3,013 assessments over a one-week period.
The results showed significant immediate and time lagged associations with mental wellbeing for several natural features: trees, the sky and birdsong. These associations were still evident several hours after exposure to trees, the sky and birdsong had taken place, indicating time-lasting benefits.
Dr Andrea Mechelli, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, said, 'These findings suggest that short-term exposure to nature has a measurable beneficial impact on mental wellbeing. The interaction of this effect with trait impulsivity is intriguing, as it suggests that nature could be especially beneficial to those individuals who are at risk of poor mental health. From a clinical perspective, we hope this line of research will lead to the development of low-cost scalable interventions aimed at promoting mental health in urban populations.