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Green Perspectives for Public Health: A Narrative Review on the Physiological Effects of Experiencing Outdoor Nature

Natural environments offer a high potential for human well-being, restoration and stress recovery in terms of allostatic load. A growing body of literature is investigating psychological and physiological health benefits of contact with Nature. So far, a synthesis of physiological health outcomes of...

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Autores principales: Haluza, Daniela, Schönbauer, Regina, Cervinka, Renate
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4053896/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24852391
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph110505445
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author Haluza, Daniela
Schönbauer, Regina
Cervinka, Renate
author_facet Haluza, Daniela
Schönbauer, Regina
Cervinka, Renate
author_sort Haluza, Daniela
collection PubMed
description Natural environments offer a high potential for human well-being, restoration and stress recovery in terms of allostatic load. A growing body of literature is investigating psychological and physiological health benefits of contact with Nature. So far, a synthesis of physiological health outcomes of direct outdoor nature experiences and its potential for improving Public Health is missing. We were interested in summarizing the outcomes of studies that investigated physiological outcomes of experiencing Nature measuring at least one physiological parameter during the last two decades. Studies on effects of indoor or simulated Nature exposure via videos or photos, animal contact, and wood as building material were excluded from further analysis. As an online literature research delivered heterogeneous data inappropriate for quantitative synthesis approaches, we descriptively summarized and narratively synthesized studies. The procedure started with 1,187 titles. Research articles in English language published in international peer-reviewed journals that investigated the effects of natural outdoor environments on humans by were included. We identified 17 relevant articles reporting on effects of Nature by measuring 20 different physiological parameters. We assigned these parameters to one of the four body systems brain activity, cardiovascular system, endocrine system, and immune function. These studies reported mainly direct and positive effects, however, our analyses revealed heterogeneous outcomes regarding significance of results. Most of the studies were conducted in Japan, based on quite small samples, predominantly with male students as participants in a cross-sectional design. In general, our narrative review provided an ambiguous illustration of the effects outdoor nature exerted on physiological parameters. However, the majority of studies reported significant positive effects. A harmonizing effect of Nature, especially on physiological stress reactions, was found across all body systems. From a Public Health perspective, interdisciplinary work on utilizing benefits of Nature regarding health promotion, disease prevention, and nature-based therapy should be optimized in order to eventually diminish given methodological limitations from mono-disciplinary studies.
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spelling pubmed-40538962014-06-12 Green Perspectives for Public Health: A Narrative Review on the Physiological Effects of Experiencing Outdoor Nature Haluza, Daniela Schönbauer, Regina Cervinka, Renate Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Natural environments offer a high potential for human well-being, restoration and stress recovery in terms of allostatic load. A growing body of literature is investigating psychological and physiological health benefits of contact with Nature. So far, a synthesis of physiological health outcomes of direct outdoor nature experiences and its potential for improving Public Health is missing. We were interested in summarizing the outcomes of studies that investigated physiological outcomes of experiencing Nature measuring at least one physiological parameter during the last two decades. Studies on effects of indoor or simulated Nature exposure via videos or photos, animal contact, and wood as building material were excluded from further analysis. As an online literature research delivered heterogeneous data inappropriate for quantitative synthesis approaches, we descriptively summarized and narratively synthesized studies. The procedure started with 1,187 titles. Research articles in English language published in international peer-reviewed journals that investigated the effects of natural outdoor environments on humans by were included. We identified 17 relevant articles reporting on effects of Nature by measuring 20 different physiological parameters. We assigned these parameters to one of the four body systems brain activity, cardiovascular system, endocrine system, and immune function. These studies reported mainly direct and positive effects, however, our analyses revealed heterogeneous outcomes regarding significance of results. Most of the studies were conducted in Japan, based on quite small samples, predominantly with male students as participants in a cross-sectional design. In general, our narrative review provided an ambiguous illustration of the effects outdoor nature exerted on physiological parameters. However, the majority of studies reported significant positive effects. A harmonizing effect of Nature, especially on physiological stress reactions, was found across all body systems. From a Public Health perspective, interdisciplinary work on utilizing benefits of Nature regarding health promotion, disease prevention, and nature-based therapy should be optimized in order to eventually diminish given methodological limitations from mono-disciplinary studies. MDPI 2014-05-19 2014-05 /pmc/articles/PMC4053896/ /pubmed/24852391 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph110505445 Text en © 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Haluza, Daniela
Schönbauer, Regina
Cervinka, Renate
Green Perspectives for Public Health: A Narrative Review on the Physiological Effects of Experiencing Outdoor Nature
title Green Perspectives for Public Health: A Narrative Review on the Physiological Effects of Experiencing Outdoor Nature
title_full Green Perspectives for Public Health: A Narrative Review on the Physiological Effects of Experiencing Outdoor Nature
title_fullStr Green Perspectives for Public Health: A Narrative Review on the Physiological Effects of Experiencing Outdoor Nature
title_full_unstemmed Green Perspectives for Public Health: A Narrative Review on the Physiological Effects of Experiencing Outdoor Nature
title_short Green Perspectives for Public Health: A Narrative Review on the Physiological Effects of Experiencing Outdoor Nature
title_sort green perspectives for public health: a narrative review on the physiological effects of experiencing outdoor nature
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4053896/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24852391
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph110505445
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