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Promoting Healthy Decision-Making via Natural Environment Exposure: Initial Evidence and Future Directions

Research within psychology and other disciplines has shown that exposure to natural environments holds extensive physiological and psychological benefits. Adding to the health and cognitive benefits of natural environments, evidence suggests that exposure to nature also promotes healthy human decisi...

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Autores principales: Berry, Meredith S., Repke, Meredith A., Metcalf, Alexander L., Jordan, Kerry E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7381161/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32765374
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01682
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author Berry, Meredith S.
Repke, Meredith A.
Metcalf, Alexander L.
Jordan, Kerry E.
author_facet Berry, Meredith S.
Repke, Meredith A.
Metcalf, Alexander L.
Jordan, Kerry E.
author_sort Berry, Meredith S.
collection PubMed
description Research within psychology and other disciplines has shown that exposure to natural environments holds extensive physiological and psychological benefits. Adding to the health and cognitive benefits of natural environments, evidence suggests that exposure to nature also promotes healthy human decision-making. Unhealthy decision-making (e.g., smoking, non-medical prescription opioid misuse) and disorders associated with lack of impulse control [e.g., tobacco use, opioid use disorder (OUD)], contribute to millions of preventable deaths annually (i.e., 6 million people die each year of tobacco-related illness worldwide, deaths from opioids from 2002 to 2017 have more than quadrupled in the United States alone). Impulsive and unhealthy decision-making also contributes to many pressing environmental issues such as climate change. We recently demonstrated a causal link between visual exposure to nature (e.g., forests) and improved self-control (i.e., decreased impulsivity) in a laboratory setting, as well as the extent to which nearby nature and green space exposure improves self-control and health decisions in daily life outside of the experimental laboratory. Determining the benefits of nearby nature for self-controlled decision-making holds theoretical and applied implications for the design of our surrounding environments. In this article, we synergize the overarching results of recent research endeavors in three domains including the effects of nature exposure on (1) general health-related decision-making, (2) health and decision-making relevant for application to addiction related processes (e.g., OUD), and (3) environmentally relevant decision-making. We also discuss key future directions and conclusions.
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spelling pubmed-73811612020-08-05 Promoting Healthy Decision-Making via Natural Environment Exposure: Initial Evidence and Future Directions Berry, Meredith S. Repke, Meredith A. Metcalf, Alexander L. Jordan, Kerry E. Front Psychol Psychology Research within psychology and other disciplines has shown that exposure to natural environments holds extensive physiological and psychological benefits. Adding to the health and cognitive benefits of natural environments, evidence suggests that exposure to nature also promotes healthy human decision-making. Unhealthy decision-making (e.g., smoking, non-medical prescription opioid misuse) and disorders associated with lack of impulse control [e.g., tobacco use, opioid use disorder (OUD)], contribute to millions of preventable deaths annually (i.e., 6 million people die each year of tobacco-related illness worldwide, deaths from opioids from 2002 to 2017 have more than quadrupled in the United States alone). Impulsive and unhealthy decision-making also contributes to many pressing environmental issues such as climate change. We recently demonstrated a causal link between visual exposure to nature (e.g., forests) and improved self-control (i.e., decreased impulsivity) in a laboratory setting, as well as the extent to which nearby nature and green space exposure improves self-control and health decisions in daily life outside of the experimental laboratory. Determining the benefits of nearby nature for self-controlled decision-making holds theoretical and applied implications for the design of our surrounding environments. In this article, we synergize the overarching results of recent research endeavors in three domains including the effects of nature exposure on (1) general health-related decision-making, (2) health and decision-making relevant for application to addiction related processes (e.g., OUD), and (3) environmentally relevant decision-making. We also discuss key future directions and conclusions. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-07-14 /pmc/articles/PMC7381161/ /pubmed/32765374 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01682 Text en Copyright © 2020 Berry, Repke, Metcalf and Jordan. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Berry, Meredith S.
Repke, Meredith A.
Metcalf, Alexander L.
Jordan, Kerry E.
Promoting Healthy Decision-Making via Natural Environment Exposure: Initial Evidence and Future Directions
title Promoting Healthy Decision-Making via Natural Environment Exposure: Initial Evidence and Future Directions
title_full Promoting Healthy Decision-Making via Natural Environment Exposure: Initial Evidence and Future Directions
title_fullStr Promoting Healthy Decision-Making via Natural Environment Exposure: Initial Evidence and Future Directions
title_full_unstemmed Promoting Healthy Decision-Making via Natural Environment Exposure: Initial Evidence and Future Directions
title_short Promoting Healthy Decision-Making via Natural Environment Exposure: Initial Evidence and Future Directions
title_sort promoting healthy decision-making via natural environment exposure: initial evidence and future directions
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7381161/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32765374
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01682
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