Healthy Hearts Healthy Parks

If the brain benefits from time spent outdoors, what about its storied counterpart, The Heart?

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Consistent research findings conclude visiting nearby nature lowers blood pressure, reduces headache and fatigue, improves mood and hastens recovery from stress. A recent study on hypertension compared elderly research participants who spent seven days in a city with another group spending a week in the forest: “… subjects exposed to the forest environment showed a significant reduction in blood pressure in comparison to that of the city group.”

A search for research publications investigating cardiovascular health (blood pressure, heart rate, cortisol) and vegetation (gardening, walking in a park, interior plants) reveals about 40 primary studies since 1988. Primary studies are research projects that collect new data from a group of participants, rather than a review of pre-existing data or past studies. If research publications are included that summarized or analyzed other data (meta-analyses or reviews), or investigated self-perceived stress, the amount of studies is in the 100s.  Although findings are consistent, a recent statistical analysis suggests more studies are needed for clearer causal mechanisms. 1

“One-third of Americans are reportedly living with extreme stress, with 75-90 percent of visits to primary care physicians being for stress-related problems.” 2Stress-Response-Report

Stress has become a constant for many city residents. Tragic or traumatic situations and events may disrupt people’s lives, but are no longer the most common sources of stress. Everyday life now presents chronic stressors such as financial strain, complex family interactions, extended commutes, and other persistent situations. Such everyday, relentless stressors now have a greater impact on health and well-being for many people than any infrequent major upset. Learn more about what stress does to our bodies, how it is measured, and how time spent outdoors provides restoration.

Take your heart to the park

In recognition of April as Earth Month, online discussion and national movements are linking the value of healthy environments for humans, plants, and the diversity of life around us. Here is a sample of how to apply heart health research in your everyday life.

Healthy Parks Healthy People

A global movement originating in Australia in 2010, the U.S. program partners with national, state, and local parks, as well as business innovators, healthcare leaders, scientists, foundations and advocacy organizations to foster and build-upon the role that parks play in the health of our society. The National Park Service provides a host of resources to help interested partners create local events and programs.  #HPHP
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ParkRx Day

Celebrated in the U.S. on April 24th, ParkRx Day promotes the growing movement of prescribing parks and nature to patients to improve human health. “Additionally, National Park Rx Day encourages everyone to start seeing visits to parks and public lands as very important parts of their health. Last fall, the U.S. Surgeon General released a call to action to promote walking and walkable communities. National Park Rx Day builds on this call to action and provides citizens with parks and green spaces to promote public health.” Although this a National Park sponsored event emphasizing grand green spaces, it is important to remember that your small, local green space also provides health benefit. webinar tomorrow April 13th, 1 p.m. EDT will introduce participants to Healthy Parks Healthy People Centennial events in 2016, with an emphasis on promoting #ParkRx Day among faith leaders in Washington DC and across the United States.

An initiative in sync with Health Parks Healthy People, focuses on the fiscal health of our national, state and local park systems. “Combine the mental and physical health benefits for all ages, with the fact that we’re losing species at an unprecedented rate, and it seems like a logical solution is getting more people outside, into local parks and reserves, and into some of our tragically under-visited state and national parks. It’s an idea that wildlife and conservation groups in the United Kingdom have already suggested, calling for 1 percent of the national heath service there to be spent on getting people outdoors.”

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1 Bowler, Diana E, Lisette M Buyung-Ali, Teri M Knight, and Andrew S Pullin. 2010. A systematic review of evidence for the added benefits to health of exposure to natural environments. BMC Public Health 10: 456.
2 Tarar, Ghazal, Coleman L Etheredge, Amy McFarland, Amy Snelgrove, Tina M Waliczek, and Jayne M Jajicek. 2015. The effect of urban tree canopy cover and vegetation levels on incidence of stress-related illnesses in humans in metropolitan statistical areas of texas. HortTechnology 25, 1: 76-84.