Scientific support (1) for the underlying principles of biophilia continues to grow.
A smartphone app trialled in Sheffield has brought further confirmation of the beneficial effects of a connection to nature. Researchers at the University of Derby asked 582 adults, some with mental health difficulties, to interact with the app when they saw something they liked in nature in the South Yorkshire city.
“There were statistically significant and sustained improvements in wellbeing at one-month follow-up,” the researchers reported in late October. “This study provides the first controlled experimental evidence that noticing the good things about urban nature has strong clinical potential as a wellbeing intervention and social prescription.”
The project has shed some light on contentious aspects of modern life. For example, people who spend little time out of doors show the highest improvement on being asked, effectively, to participate in nature. Those who spent more time outside as children seem to be more responsive to ‘nature connectedness’ as adults.
Written by David Guest, journalist and author of "Towns of Two Halves"
1. https://findingnature.org.uk/ - the research is part of a £1.3 million Natural Environment Research council funded project: Improving Wellbeing through Urban Nature.
