“Go for a walk.”
It’s a phrase you wouldn’t expect to hear from your doctor. However, with nature-based prescriptions finding their way into the health-care strategies of many doctors, researchers are confirming that patients are benefitting from the health-promoting power of nature.
Dr. Anna Gunz, a paediatric intensivist and associate professor in the Department of Paediatrics at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry and her colleagues, are discovering that being out in nature is good for everything from mental health challenges to heart disease.
Gunz, who pursued an undergraduate degree in Earth Sciences and Geography at the University of Toronto before getting her medical degree, recently published work that has helped confirm the connection between nature-based interventions (NBI) and health.
“Even putting a plant in a waiting room can change people’s levels of stress.” —Dr. Anna Gunz, Paediatric Intensivist and Associate Professor in the Department of Paediatrics
In a recent study, those who participated in activities in greenspaces, like walking, exercising or gardening, showed significant improvements in diastolic blood pressure and heart rate and positive progress in central nervous conditions like fibromyalgia.
The work, published in ScienceDirect , was authored by Gunz and student Nicole Struthers, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences.
Literature has long supported this notion.
A study, published in 1984, compared two groups of post-surgical patients: One group recuperated in rooms with windows overlooking trees; the others looked out on brick walls.
“Those with a view of nature had lower perceptions of pain. They used less medications for pain. And they left the hospital earlier,” Gunz said.
“Even putting a plant in a waiting room can change people’s levels of stress,” she said. “Being in greenspace can change people’s feelings of loneliness. It can make people feel socially connected and has been used as a prescription for conditions like arthritis and hypertension. It has improved health outcomes, as well as things like pain and quality of life.
“I was just blown away.”
