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      The Beneficial Effects of Short-Term Exposure to Scuba Diving on Human Mental Health

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          Abstract

          Exposure to outdoor blue spaces can help improve human health by reducing stress, promoting social relationships, and physical activity. While most studies have focused on the adverse health effects of scuba diving, very few have assessed its health benefits. Moreover, when scuba diving is done in large groups with no diving instructor or pre-dive briefing, negative environmental impacts are generated and negative impacts on human health may also occur due to overcrowding, which may create stress. This is the first study to evaluate the effects of scuba diving on divers’ mental health using their diving practices to estimate the impacts on the ecosystem. In the marine-protected area of Cap de Creus and adjacent areas, we assessed the mental health of 176 divers and 70 beach users (control group) by employing a 29-item version of Profile of Mood State (POMS) questionnaires. According to the parameters associated with reduced environmental impacts, two scuba diving experiences were established. Poisson regression models were performed to assess both the contribution of the activity and diving experiences to POMS scores. Both groups (scuba divers and beach goers) reduced their POMS scores after carrying out the activities. Although no significant differences were found between beach and scuba diving activities, nor between the two different scuba diving experiences, our results showed that subjects with regular medication intake due to a chronic or psychiatric illness had a POMS reduction score significantly higher than other subjects. We conclude that both beach and scuba diving activities have positive effects for human mental health, particularly among subjects with regular medication intake.

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          The cognitive benefits of interacting with nature.

          We compare the restorative effects on cognitive functioning of interactions with natural versus urban environments. Attention restoration theory (ART) provides an analysis of the kinds of environments that lead to improvements in directed-attention abilities. Nature, which is filled with intriguing stimuli, modestly grabs attention in a bottom-up fashion, allowing top-down directed-attention abilities a chance to replenish. Unlike natural environments, urban environments are filled with stimulation that captures attention dramatically and additionally requires directed attention (e.g., to avoid being hit by a car), making them less restorative. We present two experiments that show that walking in nature or viewing pictures of nature can improve directed-attention abilities as measured with a backwards digit-span task and the Attention Network Task, thus validating attention restoration theory.
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            Urban Green Space and Its Impact on Human Health

            Background: Over half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, and this proportion is expected to increase. While there have been numerous reviews of empirical studies on the link between nature and human health, very few have focused on the urban context, and most have examined almost exclusively cross-sectional research. This review is a first step toward assessing the possibility of causal relationships between nature and health in urban settings. Methods: Through systematic review of published literature, we explored the association between urban green space and human health. Results: We found consistent negative association between urban green space exposure and mortality, heart rate, and violence, and positive association with attention, mood, and physical activity. Results were mixed, or no association was found, in studies of urban green space exposure and general health, weight status, depression, and stress (via cortisol concentration). The number of studies was too low to generalize about birth outcomes, blood pressure, heart rate variability, cancer, diabetes, or respiratory symptoms. Conclusions: More studies using rigorous study design are needed to make generalizations, and meta-analyses, of these and other health outcomes possible. These findings may assist urban managers, organizations, and communities in their efforts to increase new or preserve existing green space.
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              View through a window may influence recovery from surgery.

              R. Ulrich (1984)
              Records on recovery after cholecystectomy of patients in a suburban Pennsylvania hospital between 1972 and 1981 were examined to determine whether assignment to a room with a window view of a natural setting might have restorative influences. Twenty-three surgical patients assigned to rooms with windows looking out on a natural scene had shorter postoperative hospital stays, received fewer negative evaluative comments in nurses' notes, and took fewer potent analgesics than 23 matched patients in similar rooms with windows facing a brick building wall.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Int J Environ Res Public Health
                Int J Environ Res Public Health
                ijerph
                International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
                MDPI
                1661-7827
                1660-4601
                03 October 2020
                October 2020
                : 17
                : 19
                : 7238
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Oceans & Human Health Chair, Institute of Aquatic Ecology, University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain; josep.lloret@ 123456udg.edu
                [2 ]ISGlobal (Global Health Institute Barcelona), Campus Mar, 08003 Barcelona, Spain; mireia.gascon@ 123456isglobal.org (M.G.); cristina.vert@ 123456isglobal.org (C.V.)
                [3 ]Department of Experimental and Health Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), 08003 Barcelona, Spain
                [4 ]CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), 28029 Madrid, Spain
                Author notes
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0949-2908
                https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4537-8472
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3944-2450
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3917-1152
                Article
                ijerph-17-07238
                10.3390/ijerph17197238
                7579011
                33022983
                624ae44b-286b-4def-a5b3-c063f6c276a9
                © 2020 by the authors.

                Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                : 17 July 2020
                : 01 October 2020
                Categories
                Article

                Public health
                scuba diving,mental health,ecosystem health,medication
                Public health
                scuba diving, mental health, ecosystem health, medication

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