Tuesday, June 26, 2012 Running in the woods twice as good as
running in a gym for mental health The study showed that the
positive effect on people's mental health was 50 per cent more
than they might expect from going to the gym. The researchers at
Glasgow University found that being around trees and grass
lowered brain stress levels. The study, led by Prof Richard
Mitchell, polled nearly 2000 physically active people. In an
interview, Prof Mitchell said he was "surprised" by the scale of
the results, adding: "There was around a 50 per cent improvement
in people’s mental health if they were physically active in the
natural environment, compared to those who weren't. These aren't
serious mental health issues, more struggles in general life,
things like mild depression, not being able to sleep, high
stress levels or just feelings of not being able to cope. It
seems that woodland and forest seem to have the biggest effect
on helping to lower mental health problems. That makes sense
with what we thought we knew.