Medical Journal: Nature is Good for You. - As if we didn't know.

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Source: BMJ-British Medical Journal 2005-11-25 URL:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/11/051124220320.htm

 

Getting Close To Nature Is Good For You Connecting with nature can improve

your health and wellbeing, say researchers in this week's British Medical

Journal. The theory is known as ecotherapy: restoring health through contact

with nature.

Use of wildlife in some therapies is reported to improve quality of life,

write the authors. Smaller animals (for example, squirrels, owls, and raccoons)

have been used successfully in therapies for children with emotional and

behavioural problems.

People who take part in conservation projects report subjective health

benefits, ascribed to being outdoors and to feeling part of a greater system

connecting beyond the individual. Such projects can help overcome social

isolation, develop skills, and improve employment prospects, as well as provide

the known benefits associated with exercise.

Although initial research has been promising, the UK needs robust health

impact assessments of wildlife projects to determine their objective therapeutic

value, say the authors.

English Nature has advocated a national strategy to encourage people to

reconnect with nature and benefit from proximity to wildlife.

Partnerships between healthcare providers and nature organisations to share

and exchange expertise could create new policies that recognise the

interdependence between healthy people and healthy ecosystems, they conclude.

 

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Editorial: Human health and nature conservation BMJ Volume 331, pp 1221-2

 

 

 

 

 

This story has been adapted from a news release issued by BMJ-British

Medical Journal.

 

 

 

 

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