The Association Between Green Space and Physical Activity On Mental Health

Background

Mental well-being encompasses facets of sybaritic well-being and is a critical component of health and quality of life. It is characterized as more than just the absence of mental illness, and it is linked to a variety of positive health outcomes. Mental health benefits individuals social, cognitive, and emotional growth, as well as self-esteem and academic achievement, and has been shown to ease the transition from adolescence to adulthood. However, individuals both young and old embody stress and anxiety levels that continue to rise and fluctuate, placing them at risk for mental illnesses and co-morbidities like behavior and emotional disorders. Declining rates of mental well-being and a growing incidence of early-onset mental disorders point to the need for a greater understanding of the determinants and causes of mental well-being in this age range (Zhang et al., 2020).

Green space exposure is a beneficial way to promote mental wellbeing of adolescents. Research has shown that green space exposure has a number of positive consequences for the health of individuals. These benefits include improving mental wellbeing and endurance while improving physical exercise and reducing obesity risk. It is apparent that time spent in green spaces or exposure to them will boost positive mood and emotions, retreat from daily troubles and reduce the risk of mental and physiological stress (Barton & Rogerson, 2017). Researchers are still trying to figure out why green space is so beneficial, but it certainly has a positive impact on people’s health (Zhang et al., 2020). This can promote physical activity, provide socializing spaces, reduce noise and pollution, and enhance immune function by exposing people to beneficial microbiota (NASA). It can also aid in psychological regeneration, as green space offers a break for overworked minds.

Regular physical activity has also been linked to a reduction in depressive and anxiety symptoms. It has consistently been shown that physical exercise is correlated to enhanced physical health, living satisfaction, cognitive performance, and overall well-being. Conversely, the production of psychiatric problems seems to include physical inactivity (Harris, 2018). The use of exercise as a depression treatment is supported by specific research. Exercise is favorable for the first-line treatment of mild to moderate depression as antidepressant medications and has also been shown as a supplement of medication to relieve the symptoms of depression (Richardson et al., 2005).

Introduction

I. Exercise and Mental Health

Generally speaking, lifestyle modifications that introduce varying forms of exercise and physical activity might be considered the most cost-effective way to refine your health while extending quality of life. Exercise has often been overlooked as a form of treatment in mental health care (Sharma, Madaan, & Petty, 2006). However, as time goes by, more individuals and health professionals are becoming considerably attentive to the positive impact exercise has on mental health. Some of the effective benefits seen associated with an increase in physical activity are growth in social life, mood, and self-esteem while lessening depressive symptoms or other indications correlated with mental illness (Dunn & Jewell, 2010).

This correlation of advancing your cognitive functioning and self-esteem while reducing depression, anxiety, and pessimistic moods can be accounted for by self-efficacy, social interaction, and distraction through the effects of exercise. Self-efficacy is a person’s confidence in his or her ability to carry out the behaviors required to achieve clear performance goals (Bandura, 1977). Therefore, by gaining an acceptable routine involving adequate exercise can increase an individual’s confidence and mood. This is because one’s own incentives/motives, behavior, habits, and social surrounding are directly influenced by personal confidence and ability to expand control over these conditions. Social interactions are also directly affected more positively with physical activity. For example, a recent research study, done in 2017, was conducted to examine the potential effects physical activity had on the building of trust and having trustworthiness. The study found that, on average subjects who participate in physical activity display higher levels of confidence and prosocial actions than those who do not participate. (Di Bartolomeo & Papa, 2017).

Similarly, to self-efficacy improvements, confidence in social contexts and gaining a sense of charitable achievement is boosted after individuals engage in exercise. Distraction might be thought of as a negative tactic for dealing with associated mental health symptoms/issues; however, exercise can be used as a way to diminish stressful stimuli and anxieties (Stults-Kolehmainen & Sinha, 2013). Improved mental effects can be achieved through putting those stresses and anxieties into a good workout.

II. Green space and Mental Health

Green space is a general term that refers to both maintained and unmaintained natural environments, such as nature reserves, wilderness areas, and local parks. Green spaces are often designated for recreational or aesthetic purposes, especially in urban settings (De Keijzer, 2020). Despite evidence of a positive relationship between levels of neighborhood greenspace and mental health and well-being, global urbanization has limited access to and involvement with greenspace. When people live in areas with more green space, they have decreased mental illness, anxiety, and depression, as well as better vitality and healthy hormone profiles.

Green space interaction is clearly beneficial to mental health and well-being, and therefore greenspaces can serve as an upstream preventive mental health promotion intervention. If greenspace were treated like a treatment for mental health and well-being, a better understanding of its mechanisms would lead to more precise dosages and an understanding of when and for whom it would be most effective.

In previous research it was concluded that green space strongly helps to prevent mood disorders, depression, neurotic behavior, and stress-related problems. (Engemann, K., et al., 2019). So, the effects of green space act as a protective mechanism, but it is said to be dose dependent. This meaning, those who spend more time in green spaces have more positive mental health welfare.

III. Green space and Physical Activity

Green space can be one such environmental factor that encourages physical activity by providing a clean, open, and appealing place to walk, run, cycle, or play ball games. It is believed that those who have more green space in their local area are more likely to engage in more physical activity (Mytton et al., 2012). The availability of physical activity opportunities, the stress-relieving impact of nature, and the facilitation of social contacts are all possible causative factors underpinning the green space and health relationship.

According to various research, populations may exercise more frequently because of neighborhood walkability and accessible green space, resulting in reduced metabolic risks and enhanced mental health through rehabilitation and additional exposure to enjoyable landscapes (Braubach et al., 2017).

Methods

I. Study Design

The purpose of this experiment is to assess the links between positive health outcomes, green space, and exercise across populations for varying individuals of differing determinants. This experimental design followed a triangular approach to explore the bidirectional relationships between green space and mental health, green space and physical activity, and physical activity and mental health. This meaning, the methods in which were used to collect data were multi-operational in order to reasonably assure an understanding between the connection of these variables.

It’s very important to understand that designing surveys have to encompass a clear idea of an intended conclusion or goal (Jones, Baxter, & Khanduja, 2013). Having such surveys or questionnaires to allow for the tested population to generalize or create a perception of a widespread idea of how individuals’ moods are affected by factors such as exercise, green space, or both.

Specifically, if we explore the triangular association between mental health (mood/overall well-being/stress), the amount of exercise, and access clean and useful greenspace, then those with larger access to greater physical health and cleanly green areas will have higher reporting mental welfare. This was hypothesized to address why these associations pair well as a combined instrument for life development that individuals should partake in to encourage growth upon surrounding factors. Additionally, this was conducted in hopes to indicate that exercise brings relevant and sustained improvements to the participants in which allows them to recognize these specific impacts on their mental health and emotional well-being.

Therefore, a randomized/anonymous, general assessment of one’s mental health, exercise, and availability to green space (if used) was observed through self-reporting from various surveys. 47 individuals self-reported from a multi-part survey on surveymonkey. These 47 individuals consisted of 19 males, 27 females, and 1 individual who preferred not to answer.

Rather than incorporating questions on the basis of combination between the variables, uniquely separate surveys independently assessed an individual’s mental health, physical health, and their access to green space. This specific research method, by research, is coined to be an explanatory survey. Explanatory surveys are used to locate an explanation of a hypothesized relationship between variables. These surveys tend to collect quantitative data that can be used to associate the cause and effect between specific intended outcomes (Lau & Kuziemsky, 2017).

II. Data Collection

Surveys that include questions about how individuals feel day-to-day were created to help for the examination of an individual’s well-being and overall mental awareness. This survey assisted in generating an idea of how this particular bodily function of health correlates with adjustments in length away from local or community green space and the amount of exercise one gets weekly. Answers could have varied in range, such that individuals could report on a scale being very stressful and anxious to blithe and content. This particular mental assessment survey included 5 questions:

1. On average, how would you define your mental health, on a scale from 1-3? (1 = good, 2 = average, 3 = poor)
2. How often do you feel relaxed on a scale from 1- 5? (1 = never; 2 = rarely; 3 = sometimes; 4 = often; 5 = always)
3. How often are you anxious, on a scale from 1- 5? (1 = never; 2 = rarely; 3 = sometimes; 4 = often; 5 = always)
4. How often do you feel stressed, on a scale from 1- 5? (1 = never; 2 = rarely; 3 = sometimes; 4 = often; 5 = always)
5. How often do you feel happy, on a scale from 1-5? (1 = never; 2 = rarely; 3 = sometimes; 4 = often; 5 = always)

Next, this additional assessment included questions that determine the amount of exercise an individual gets weekly to help further identify if there is a correlation between mood stability and one’s pursuit to get outside to enjoy green space or if there is greater impacts on their mental health by the amount of exercise being performed or both. These 2 questions included:

1. How many hours per week of physical activity do you take part in?
   1. 0-1
   2. 2-5
   3. 6-10
   4. 10+
2. How would you define the intensity of your workouts on a scale of 1-3? Where low intensity would be yoga, medium intensity could be running/cardio and high intensity would be weightlifting. (1 = low intensity, 2 = moderate intensity, 3 = high/vigorous intensity)

Similar to the other surveys, the questions that assessed green space encountered determining distance, access, and availability individuals had to local parks, sanctuaries, and other varying forms on nature. From this, these questions helped examine individual’s correlation between the coexisting variables. These 4 questions were presented as shown:

1. How far are you from available green space?
   1. 1-3 miles
   2. 4-7 miles
   3. 8-11 miles
   4. 12-15 miles
   5. 16-19 miles
   6. 20+ miles
2. If you are near or have access to green space, is it fairly clean, on a scale of 1-3? (1 = YES! 2 = somewhat, 3 = not at all)
3. Is it useable, on a scale of 1-3? (1 = YES! 2 = somewhat, 3 = not at all)
4. Are you able to enjoy your time there, on a scale of 1-3? (1 = YES! 2 = somewhat, 3 = not at all)

Additionally, a variety of open-ended questions were used to conduct an evaluation on outside factors that excluded the variables already being tested. These questions included a general reference to the relative information the participants provided but requested for a ‘why’ and ‘how’ they thought their answer contributed to their stress levels, the amount of exercise they did per week, and the amount of green space they are surrounded by or have access to. Conversely, this type of data collection varies from the explanatory surveys that were conducted above. Meaning, rather, this part of the study was exploratory. Exploratory surveys are used to investigate and better comprehend a specific idea that is not already predetermined. This design mostly collects qualitative data that invites individuals to focus on the ways in which they perceive what and which research variables that influence their behaviors, both mentally and physically (Lau & Kuziemsky, 2017). I used such questions to further complex the data collection by considering other influences, for example, that could be changing individual’s moods or self-esteems such as weather, relationships, and other personal factors. A research study indicated that individual level characteristics were considered when observing, for example, the effects of green space on mental health. They assessed demographics such as age, gender, race/ethnicity even, like I previously mentioned, marital status (Never married/Living with a partner/married) (Beyer et al., 2014). These 6 questions were presented as shown below:

1. What is your age?
   1. 13-17
   2. 18-21
   3. 22-25
   4. 26-30
   5. 30+
2. What is your gender?
   1. Male
   2. Female
   3. Prefer not to say
   4. Other ________
3. What is your ethnicity?
   1. American Indian or Alaska Native
   2. Asian
   3. Black or African American
   4. Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific islander
   5. White
   6. Other race not listed here _______
4. If you feel comfortable, share other factors aside from exercise and green space, such as relationships, those you associate yourself with, weather, etc. that you feel contribute to your mood and mental health? Why and how?
5. If you feel comfortable, explain some strategies that you believe are most helpful to alleviate stress and or other negative mental health associations? Why and How?
6. If you feel comfortable, explain how and why you believe that exercise doesn’t play an important role in your mental well-being? Additionally, do you agree that having local green space near your community influences your exercise and/or generates positive mental health outcome?

III. Personal Testimonies

The reason I decided to dive into this research idea of connecting green space, exercise, and mental health is because I have personal experience. In 2016, I participated in a “WANDERLUST” festival that consisted of yoga, a 5k, and various dance routines to live music. As seen in Figure 1 below, this festival left me tranquil, and I had a major reduction in my stress levels. The likelihood of continuing a healthy and productive coping mechanism in my daily routine, such as exercise, increased drastically since I participated in this green space based physical activity. Since I had such a shift in my mental health and well-being from this 4-day festival, I wanted to explore how much more of an impact a longer period of time exercise and green space has on individuals.

Figure 1: WANDERLUST festival

 As seen in Figure 2 below, this is my friend Lauryn who gave me permission to briefly share her story with green space, exercise, and mental health status. Lauryn, who exercises frequently in green space and claims that she has higher self-efficacy and stable mood when she is able to get out in nature and run (Harcus, 2021). As I have read before in previous research, I think this directly relates back to the positive attributes to improved mental health due the physiological changes that arise from engaging in physical activity. This is because an important physiological change to note from the effects of exercise encompass an increase in endorphin levels (Mikkelsen, Stojanovska, Polenakovic, Bosevski, & Apostolopoulos, 2017). In short, endorphins create euphoric sensations elicited from physical activity.

Figure 2: Lauryn’s exercise in green space

Results

After collecting the various data from each of the individual surveys given to the 47 participants, descriptive statistics such as graphs were made in order to make inferential analysis for the results. Due to the multiple part questions to each part of the survey, it would be too overwhelming to try and display each question as a particular graph or descriptive statistic. Therefore, presented here are the most important descriptions of the results that help made a conclusion.

It was concluded that there was a range of individuals contributing to the data with varying statuses in their mental well-being. As you can see in Figure 3, 26 individuals reported good mental health status, 12 reported average, and 9 reported poor mental health status. After further analyzing the questions displayed with this portion of the survey, the individuals who had resonated with having good mental health status had reported having fewer-to-no days feeling anxious or stressed and rather, had days that were often or always happy and relaxed. Conversely, individuals that claimed having poor mental health status also reported having often-to-always experiencing days with stressed and anxious feelings rather than days that were happier and more relaxed. As for those who reported having average mental health status, a mix of results contributing to the anxious and stressed thoughts, were in balance with their happy more relaxed emotions.

Figure 3: Mental health status among the participants

Accordingly, the results presented below in Figure 4 display the amount of exercise these participants were involved in on a weekly basis. With 6 participants having 0-1 hour of exercise weekly, 17 participants having 2-6 hours, 19 participants having 6-10 hours, and 5 participants having 10+ hours of exercise weekly. Although you are unable to see the correlation, these results highly resonate with the results determined from the above determinants. This meaning, individuals that reported having a higher number of hours spent exercising had also reported having average to good mental health status. Rather, those who reported having fewer of hours spent exercising had more days spent anxious and stressed rather than happy and more relaxed. Thus, we are able to determine that exercise and physical activity do in fact generate greater mood stability, increased productivity in mental welfare, and decrease the potential effects of anxiety, depression, and other behavioral instabilities.

Figure 4: Weekly hours of exercise contributed by participants

In reviewing the results for availability to green space by the participants below in Figure 5, it was analyzed that distance to green space has no direct impact on the amount of exercise individuals participate in. However, there may be a significance between green space and mental health status. With 8 individuals reported being 1-3 miles away from available green space, 12 being 4-7 miles away, 4 being 8-11 miles away, 14 being 12-15 miles away, 7 being 16-19 miles away, and 2 participants being 20+ miles away from green space. Although the correlation is indistinguishable to you, after reviewing each individual answer on the basis of the coexisting surveys, majority of participants who reported being fairly closer to green space additionally reported having average to good mental health status. However, not all of these answers directly related to the amount of exercise these individuals participated in. This meaning, some of these individuals did not necessarily report having a large number of hours exercise per week. Comparatively, individuals who reported being further away from clean green space had also described having a poor mental health status as well as little-to-no exercise.

Figure 5: Distance participants were from green space

As for the demographic questions, there was a variety of individuals of differing age groups, genders, and racial/ethnic groups. As you can see in Figures 5 and 6 below, there is a range of the age individuals who participated as well as not having a huge number of one gender over the other. This wasn’t skewed. Although, after interpretations of these results, it was concluded that individuals who fall under the 18-21 age group were those who reported having the most stressed and anxious days. While not all of these individuals reported this, it is significant to point out this particular result. However, these results did range from all age groups and genders that were reported. There were individuals from each age group that reported having either good, average, or poor mental health status, and a varying range in both hours spent exercising and number miles away from green space.

Figure 5: Age of participants

 

Figure 6: Gender of participants

 Lastly, in reviewing the answers provided by the participants for the open-ended questions, a mix of additional factors were listed to many of their experiences that contribute to their mental health status. For example, a significant number of individuals reported as having family, romantic, or other relationships directly affect the status of their mental health. Meaning, some participants explained that their relationship either had an additional positive impact or conversely, negatively impacted their mental health status. Individuals explained that this may be due to the mere fact that they are heavily dependent on these relationships or significant others, so they don’t give themselves enough credit to make decisions for their own well-being. Additionally, which also helps conclude this the results of this experiments, is that many individuals explained that green space acts an “escape” rather than a place for them go be active or exercise. Some participants justified this answer with explanations of being able to go sit and hear the “buzzing of the bees”, “wind blowing through the trees”, and “feeling the warmth of the sun” while being surrounded by “beautiful scenery”. These individuals explained that rather than exercising, this is a way that they maintain their good mental health status with few days being stressed or anxious.

Limitations

 During the research that was being conducted and data collection, it was very difficult to gain enough participation in the surveys. If there would have been increased participation for the surveys, this could have furthered the research and altered the results that were concluded. Reaching a larger sample size could have had significant impacts on the results indicated on the basis of the experimental design. This is because larger sample sizes provide more reliable values and can detect outliers that could distort data in a smaller sample.

Additionally, having a greater number in personal testimonies could have supplemented the findings presented from the surveys. However, due to COVID-19 limiting access to certain features such as having greater freedom in meeting individuals for a brief interview it was much harder to collect this kind of data for information to base a result off of. It would have greatly supplemented the results found from the surveys conducted to have a wider variety of individuals who were both active and inactive in exercise or partaking in outdoor activity on the basis of their mental well-being status. This being said however, many of the individuals that were spoken to and had their testimony collected mentioned that because of being in the colder months of the year it has been difficult for them partake in their enjoyment of green space. If this experiment would have been longer, meaning over the course of both warm and colder months, that these results could have varied the results even further.

Furthermore, there was a reasonable number of individuals who did turn in the survey that would fail to complete the remaining open-ended questions with adequate details and additional information. Because this section primarily focused to help distinguish if outside variables affected individual’s mental status and their likelihood of exercising or getting outside into green space, it was difficult to directly determine if a significant number of participants to have the same experiences. Some answers received during data collection had to be determined inconclusive for making any inferential analysis.

Conclusion

This study provides a greater understanding for the individual effects green space and physical activity has on mental health rather than the bidirectional relationship between all three variables. This meaning, this research highlights that active individuals that partake in frequent exercise have positive influences on an individual’s mental welfare. Conversely, the findings presented green space as a major role in bettering mental health status rather than influencing exercise and physical activity. Similar to previous research, there really was no evidence of a direct association between recreational activity and green space exposure. All variables had non-significant correlations, and there was no evidence of a consistent pattern in regression across categories of access for distance, consistency, or usability. Moreover, non-significant associations between outdoor physical activity and neighborhood measures of access to green spaces were found within collected data (Hillsdon et al., 2006).

Following similarities in previous research, future studies should look into the possible mechanisms that underpin the connection between physical activity and mental health, as well as the magnitude to which behavioral and psychological influences better explain this link (Harris, 2018).

If I were to conduct this research study again, I would go about data-collection a different way. After concluding the results, I realized that a weakness of this study was using a self-reported measure. Rather, if I had a longer period of time, I would conduct a group of participants to be tracked on a week-by-week basis with true results that could have been collected on a daily questionnaire that would be sent to each individual to collect information. For example, if you have ever been contact traced or have had COVID-19, then you would know that a daily questionnaire is sent out every morning at a specific time to ask individuals their current symptoms and if anything has changed. The same questions asked in the survey for this research would be similar with a few varying changes but being able to directly collect data that would fluctuate based on the person’s schedule, travel, and other contributing factors would expand the results that could have been found.

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