The study also found that, at a time when mental health problems soared due to financial woes, supply shortages and nonstop news coverage of the virus, people sought solace in the great outdoors, with one-third spending more time there than they did pre-Covid.
The lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic gave a breather to the trees, plants and parks around our houses, with lesser pollution causing vehicles roaming around like mad. The peace and calm during the first lockdown made people appreciate nature even more. Now, a new University of Colorado Boulder research has found some positive impacts of green surroundings on people’s health”mental health.
The study, published in the journal ‘PLOS One’, found that people exposed to more green space during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic reported significantly less depression and anxiety. The study also found that, at a time when mental health problems soared due to financial woes, supply shortages and nonstop news coverage of the virus, people sought solace in the great outdoors, with one-third spending more time there than they did pre-Covid.
“This research shows how critical it is to keep parks and green spaces open in times of crisis,” said senior author Colleen Reid, an assistant professor of geography in the Institute for Behavioral Science. “It also shows that, as a public health measure, more effort should be made to put in green spaces and make them accessible.” For the study, the authors presented about 1,200 Denver-area residents with a 30-minute survey gauging their health”mental health and their perceptions of green space near their home, including how much there was, whether they could see it, whether it was accessible, how much they used it and its quality. They also collected aerial satellite imagery to objectively quantify greenery in respondents’ neighbourhoods.
The survey ran from November 2019 to January 2021. Once Covid-19 emerged and lockdowns ensued, Reid added additional questions, providing a rare opportunity to also look at how the pandemic influenced health”mental health over time and what was most stressful about it. “Not surprisingly, we found that the pandemic impacted health”mental health negatively,” said co-author Emma Rieves, a master’s student in the Department of Geography. “But we also found that green space could have a powerful protective effect, even at a time of such extraordinary stressors.” Surprisingly, the study found no association between being diagnosed with Covid and having poor health”mental health.
But respondents reported that having symptoms, no diagnosis and no way to test was distressing. Those who lost income or felt they were working in an unsafe environment were also more likely to be stressed or depressed, while the strongest source of health”mental health problems was a fear of supply shortages (including toilet paper and food). People who spent a lot of time scrolling the internet looking at the news reported poorer health”mental health. In contrast, merely having abundant green space nearby, as measured by satellite images, was associated with lower depression scores.
