Time spent in nature can help people with mental illness As little as 10 minutes in a city park can help improve symptoms People with mood disorders receive the most benefit MONDAY, July 22, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Spending time in nature can provide a boost for people with , a new review finds. Even as little as 10 minutes spent in a city park can improve a person’s symptoms, researchers found. The positive effects of nature approved particularly helpful for people with mood disorders like depression or bipolar disorder, results show.
“We know nature plays an important role in human health, but behavioral health and health care providers often neglect to think about it as an intervention,” said lead researcher , a professor at the University of Utah College of Social Work. For the review, researchers analyzed results from 45 studies involving nearly 1,500 people diagnosed with mental illnesses. The studies varied in structure, with some participants spending short amounts of time in a city park and others having multiple-day wilderness adventures.
No matter how long people spent around nature, they always experienced positive results, results show. Results showed that water-based outdoor spaces -- rivers, lakes and oceans -- had the greatest positive effect. Camping, farming and gardening activities were the most beneficial.
The new review was published recently in the journal . “All of these different types of outdoor spaces delivered positive results, which unders.