16. Benefits of nature for human health Flashcards
Structure of the lecture
- The potential of green prescribing
- Finding the specific interactions
- Understanding the mechanism
- Finding a dose
- Understanding the cost
- Coming up with a solution
What did Hutson et al., 2016 show about indirect health benefits and nature?
1.1
Increased green spaces can lead to improved public health outcomes
Green spaces are positive for exercise (good for improving cardiovascular/respiratory health), reducing pollution (improving pollution and allergens) and heat reduction (reduces overheating and heat stress)
What did Kardan et al., 2015 show about the direct impacts of nature on human health?
1.2
Study performed in Toronto that measured every tree in the city to generate a BioBank to map the health of all individuals alongside the number of trees. Found that people living in streets with higher numbers of trees tend to have fewer cardiometabolic conditions
What did Donovan et al., 2013 show about tree death and human mortality?
1.3
Found that the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer from 1990 to 2007 resulted in the death of 100 million ash trees across 1296 US counties. This decrease in ash trees was correlated with a significant increase in human deaths from cardiorespiratory illnesses
What did Sarkar et al., 2018, show about NDVI and health outcomes?
1.4
Ambient greeness exposure over time was associated with lower odds of subsequent Common Mental Diseases (CMD). Every extra 360m to the nearest Green Blue Space (GBS) was associated with higher odds of CMD. The impacts of GBS was highest in the most deprived areas
What are the 3 main mechanisms for us to understand the health outcomes of green prescribing?
3
Sight
Smell
Environmental microbiomes
What 3 papers can we look at to understand the impact of SIGHT from green prescribing?
3.1
Song et al., 2015:
Elasdek et al., 2017
Taylor et al., 2011
What did Elasdek et al., 2017 show about the impact of SIGHT from green prescribing?
3.1.2
Found that yellow and green plants are the most calming to look at, and are the most indicative of relaxation via blood flow to the brain
Patients also pay more attention to yellow-green and bright-green plants compared to other shapes
This is aside from during autumn, when humans are more attracted to red/orange plants
What did Song et al., 2015 show about the impact of SIGHT from green prescribing?
3.1.1
Compared brain activity and psychological wellbeing when viewing urban/natural scenes, and found significantly higher relaxation, lower blood pressure and lower heart rate in natural environments
What did Taylor et al., 2011 show about the impact of SIGHT from green prescribing?
3.1.3
Found that the fractal dimensions and shape of natural patterns, particularly along the horizon has a strong impact on peace/focus, with more open landscapes providing the optimal effect
What are the 4 papers we can look at to understand the impact of SMELL on green prescribing?
3.2
- Joung et al., 2014
- Kim et al., 2019
- Li et al., 2009
- Tsao et al., 2018
What did Joung et al., 2014 show about the impact of SMELL from green prescribing?
3.2.1
Found that the impact of VOCs found in local nature, such as Alpha-pinene and limonene lead to enhanced parasympathetic nervous response, slowed heart rate, increased comfort, and calmed physiological/psychological responses
What did Kim et al., 2019 show about the impact of SMELL from green prescribing?
3.2.2
Found that VOCs from nature can pass into our blood stream from so much as a 10-minute walk
What did Li et al., 2009 show about the impact of SMELL from green prescribing?
3.2.3
Found that some of the most important health benefits occur once VOCs enter the bloodstream.
For example, VOCs from the Hinoki cypress tree have been found to decrease stress
What did Tsao et al., 2018 show about the impact of SMELL from green prescribing?
3.2.4
The influence of scent from the Japanese Cedar in everyday life (such as reed diffusers, shower gel, perfume) can influence the immune response (via improved, longer lasting NK cell response and anti-inflammatories), and increase cardiovascular health
What are the 5 studies we can look at to understand the impact of nature on the MICROBIOME?
3.3
Von Hertzen et al., 2011
Roslund et al., 2020 and 2022
Selway et al., 2020
Soininen et al., 2022
Robinson et al., 2021
What is Van Hertzen’s Environmental Microbiome Hypothesis?
3.3.1
States that biodiverse environments are naturally high in ‘good’ environmental microbes, and will:
- Increase the diversity of human microbiomes
- Provide microbes that allow us to deal with daily functions like digestion, immune function and autoimmunity
What did Roslund et al., 2020/2022 show about the impact on ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOME from green prescribing?
3.3.2
Found that children who played in more microbially diverse soils had significantly improved skin and microbial diversity after 28 days and increase IL10 T-cells, suggesting enhanced immune functioning
What did Selway et al., 2020 show about the impact on ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOME from green prescribing?
3.3.3
Found a significant increase in diversity and abundance of microbiota on participant’s noses and skin after spending time in green, urban, and biodiverse spaces, compared to urban ones. This also tracks along a transect.
What did Soininen et al., 2020/2022 show about the impact on ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOME from green prescribing?
3.3.4
‘Living walls’ in offices can provide ‘good’ skin bacteria and lower the inflammatory markers of office works.
What did Robinson et al., 2021 show about the impact on ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOME from green prescribing?
3.3.5
The more biodiversity-dense an environment, the higher the benefits derived. Modelled this linearly
How LONG should a nature interaction last for?
4.1
Hunter et al., 2019
Around 20 minutes SITTING in nature, multiple times per week helped to provide maximum health benefits.
Tested with 36 participants from University of Michigan and measured salivary amylase for multiple activity/times in nature
How can we asses the benefit of nature-based therapies against other therapies/drugs?
5
- Comparison to other therapies, like CBT (Stigsdotter et al., 2018)
- Assessing economic value (Pretty and Barton, 2020)
How did Stigsdotter et al., 2018 assess the effectiveness of nature-based therapies?
5.1
Comparison to CBT in clinically stressed individuals.
Tested 84 Danish Participants, all of whom were out of work due to clinical stress.
Half given CBT, half given NBT
Both found to be significantly effective against stress
77% of those who did NBT were back at work a year later, compared to 60% who did CBT
Could a combination of the two be most effective?
How did Pretty and Barton, 2020 assess the economic value of nature therapies?
5.2
Tested 642 participants over 4 years with therapies like woodland therapy, horticulture therapy, green care and Tai Chi
Concluded that the net economic benefits of ‘green prescribing’ could be up to £31,500 per year, per person
What are the two major ways that we are beginning to integrate NBTs?
6
Target 16 of the CBD
UK Environmental Improvement Plan
What is Target 16 of the CBD?
6.1
To significantly increase the area and access to greenspace in urban areas to improve human health and wellbeing
What is the UK Environmental Improvement Plan?
6.2
The public should be able to access green space or water, such as woodlands, wetlands, parks and rivers within a 15-minute walk
What are the 3 major benefits of green prescribing?
6.3
- Reducing harm: stress, post-operative pain, recovery rates etc.,
- Building resilience: Increase in NK cells, anti-inflammatory compounds, improve gut/skin
- Restoration: Attention span, cognitive function, stress recovery etc.,
