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      Assessing the Impact of Outdoor Activities on Mental Wellbeing; Focusing on the Walking Path in Urban Area

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          Abstract

          Background:

          Provided that COVID-19 pandemic has led to mental wellbeing disorders for city dwellers, and given that there is a significant association between outdoor activities and mental health, this paper investigated how the frequency of walking during the pandemic contributes to the immediate and subsequent ‘mood’.

          Methods:

          A longitudinal data collection method was adopted to verify the ‘mood’ of the participants before and after walking. The survey was conducted with 100 participants in a walking path in Shiraz, Iran, on Jan 2021. The quantitative analysis methods were performed in SPSS to examine the mental wellbeing outcomes of walking in the outdoor walking path when considering the psychological impacts of the pandemic and the quantity.

          Results:

          The result affirms the positive contribution of walking in the improvement of mental-wellbeing-mood during the pandemic; though, such a mood boost is in a direct relationship with the quantity of the activity within a week. Moreover, other factors can play a significant role, including the ‘mood before walking’, and the age of the participants.

          Conclusion:

          It is likely that encouraging people to consider walking as their routine activity can lead to several positive consequences on mental wellbeing since walking as a basic outdoor activity during the pandemic can contribute on the mood. .

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          Most cited references22

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          Mental health in the Covid-19 pandemic

          During any outbreak of an infectious disease, the population’s psychological reactions play a critical role in shaping both spread of the disease and the occurrence of emotional distress and social disorder during and after the outbreak. Despite this fact, sufficient resources are typically not provided to manage or attenuate pandemics’ effects on mental health and wellbeing. 1 While this might be understandable in the acute phase of an outbreak, when health systems prioritize testing, reducing transmission and critical patient care, psychological and psychiatric needs should not be overlooked during any phase of pandemic management. There are many reasons for this. It is known that psychological factors play an important role in adherence to public health measures (such as vaccination) and in how people cope with the threat of infection and consequent losses. 1 These are clearly crucial issues to consider in the management of any infectious disease, including Covid-19. Psychological reactions to pandemics include maladaptive behaviours, emotional distress and defensive responses. 1 People who are prone to psychological problems are especially vulnerable. All of these features are in clear evidence during the current Covid-19 pandemic. One study of 1210 respondents from 194 cities in China in January and February 2020 found that 54% of respondents rated the psychological impact of the Covid-19 outbreak as moderate or severe; 29% reported moderate to severe anxiety symptoms; and 17% reported moderate to severe depressive symptoms. 2 Notwithstanding possible response bias, these are very high proportions—and it is likely that some people are at even greater risk. During the 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak (‘swine flu’), a study of mental health patients found that children and patients with neurotic and somatoform disorders were significantly over-represented among those expressing moderate or severe concerns. 3 Against this background, and as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread around the world, we hypothesize a number of psychological impacts that merit consideration now rather than later. In the first instance, it should be recognized that, even in the normal course of events, people with established mental illness have a lower life expectancy and poorer physical health outcomes than the general population. 4 As a result, people with pre-existing mental health and substance use disorders will be at increased risk of infection with Covid-19, increased risk of having problems accessing testing and treatment and increased risk of negative physical and psychological effects stemming from the pandemic. Second, we anticipate a considerable increase in anxiety and depressive symptoms among people who do not have pre-existing mental health conditions, with some experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder in due course. There is already evidence that this possibility has been under-recognized in China during the current pandemic. 5 Third, it can be anticipated that health and social care professionals will be at particular risk of psychological symptoms, especially if they work in public health, primary care, emergency services, emergency departments and intensive or critical care. The World Health Organization has formally recognized this risk to healthcare workers, 6 so more needs to be done to manage anxiety and stress in this group and, in the longer term, help prevent burnout, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. There are several steps that can and should be taken now to minimize the psychological and psychiatric effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. First, while it might be ostensibly attractive to re-deploy mental health professionals to work in other areas of healthcare, this should be avoided. Such a move would almost certainly worsen outcomes overall and place people with mental illness at disproportionate risk of deteriorations in physical and mental health. If anything, this group needs enhanced care at this time. Second, we recommend the provision of targeted psychological interventions for communities affected by Covid-19, particular supports for people at high risk of psychological morbidity, enhanced awareness and diagnosis of mental disorders (especially in primary care and emergency departments) and improved access to psychological interventions (especially those delivered online and through smartphone technologies). 7 These measures can help diminish or prevent future psychiatric morbidity. Finally, there is a need for particular focus on frontline workers including, but not limited to, healthcare staff. In the USA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer valuable advice for healthcare workers in order to reduce secondary traumatic stress reactions, including increased awareness of symptoms, taking breaks from work, engaging in self-care, taking breaks from media coverage and asking for help. 8 This kind of advice needs to be underpinned by awareness of this risk among employers, enhanced peer-support and practical assistance for healthcare workers who find themselves exhausted, stressed and feeling excessive personal responsibility for clinical outcomes during what appears to be the largest pandemic of our times. Even in this emergency circumstance, or especially in this emergency circumstance, we neglect mental health at our peril and to our long-term detriment. Conflict of interest: None declared.
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            The health benefits of urban green spaces: a review of the evidence.

            Urban development projects can be costly and have health impacts. An evidence-based approach to urban planning is therefore essential. However, the evidence for physical and non-physical health benefits of urban green space is unclear. A literature search of academic and grey literature was conducted for studies and reviews of the health effects of green space. Articles found were appraised for their relevance, critically reviewed and graded accordingly. Their findings were then thematically categorized. There is weak evidence for the links between physical, mental health and well-being, and urban green space. Environmental factors such as the quality and accessibility of green space affects its use for physical activity. User determinants, such as age, gender, ethnicity and the perception of safety, are also important. However, many studies were limited by poor study design, failure to exclude confounding, bias or reverse causality and weak statistical associations. Most studies reported findings that generally supported the view that green space have a beneficial health effect. Establishing a causal relationship is difficult, as the relationship is complex. Simplistic urban interventions may therefore fail to address the underlying determinants of urban health that are not remediable by landscape redesign.
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              • Article: not found

              The influence of urban green environments on stress relief measures: A field experiment

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Iran J Public Health
                Iran J Public Health
                IJPH
                Iranian Journal of Public Health
                Tehran University of Medical Sciences
                2251-6085
                2251-6093
                October 2021
                : 50
                : 10
                : 2132-2138
                Affiliations
                [1. ]Department of Urbanisem, Faculty of Art and Architecture Faculty, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran
                [2. ]Department of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
                [3. ]Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
                [4. ]School of Geography, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran
                [5. ]Asia Contents Institute, Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
                Author notes
                [* ] Corresponding Author: Email: monstar90@ 123456konkuk.ac.kr
                Article
                IJPH-50-2132
                10.18502/ijph.v50i10.7517
                8819217
                35223581
                854b6e5f-c59c-4f7c-abd0-653745c83f0d
                Copyright © 2021 Heidarzadeh et al. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences

                This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                : 10 February 2021
                : 16 April 2021
                Categories
                Original Article

                Public health
                covid-19,mental wellbeing,mood,urban area,outdoor activity,walking path
                Public health
                covid-19, mental wellbeing, mood, urban area, outdoor activity, walking path

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