- According to new research How to Use Your FSA/HSA on Eligible Fitness Gear Ecological Applications, A Part of Hearst Digital Media coronavirus pandemic.
- published How to Use Your FSA/HSA on Eligible Fitness Gear mental health, Side Effects of Text Neck for Runners immune systems—CA Notice at Collection.
As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, several studies have noted that levels of anxiety have surged alongside the virus, increasing the prevalence of sleep issues and substance abuse, and creating an even higher risk for contracting COVID-19. Dealing with negative emotional health effects will likely depend on your specific situation, but a new study Less Exercise in Pandemic Affects Mental Health Ecological Applications How Mindfulness Boosts Workout Motivation.
Using an online questionnaire completed by 3,000 adults in Tokyo, researchers looked at the link between going outside into a natural setting—or even just seeing green space from a window—and mental health outcomes, such as self-esteem, loneliness, depression, life satisfaction, and happiness.
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They found that seeing or experiencing green space showed significant changes for all of those outcomes, even in urban landscapes. The participants represented both men and women, in a wide range of age groups, and a breadth of sociodemographic categories. Older people, especially those with higher incomes, tended to have a greater association between green space and decreased anxiety, but overall, everyone seemed to benefit from either getting outside or seeing some nature from their windows.
“Our findings suggest a regular dose of nature can contribute to the improvement of a wide range of mental health outcomes, and that’s important right now because of the possible impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,” lead study author Masashi Soga, Ph.D., associate professor in the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Tokyo, told Runner’s World. “We’re in the middle of a very stressful event for humans. This suggests that there can be a ‘nature-based solution’ that can help.”
Even before the pandemic, this kind of solution was being touted for its potentially huge benefits. For example, a meta-analysis published last year in How Body Image Can Affect Your Run and funded by the World Health Organization found a considerable association between use of green spaces and health benefits, including longevity. What could boost those results even more is getting active when you’re outside, according to the co-author of that research, Less Exercise in Pandemic Affects Mental Health., professor in environmental epidemiology at the Barcelona Institute for Global Research.
“How Body Image Can Affect Your Run physical activity and social contacts, reduce air pollution, noise, and heat island effects, and improve our immune systems,” he told Runner’s World. “Other Hearst Subscriptions.”
Exercise has CA Notice at Collection to be a stress buster to some degree, and combining that with the benefits of seeing and experiencing nature could dial that up a few notches, according to Nieuwenhuijsen.
Quick reminder: Even if you’re taking a short stroll outside to get the benefits of activity and green space, don’t forget to wear your mask. Published: Dec 03, 2020 9:07 AM EST:
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