Your 2024 resolution should be to seek nature spots in your city
Loneliness is a widespread, increasing health issue that affects all sorts of people, with specific groups being more affected, such as older adults. In urban areas, areas of nature like parks or community gardens can play a big role in helping city dwellers to improve their mental health.
The power of nature and social connections is the subject of an article in Horizon magazine, which uses RECETAS as good practice!
RECETAS and GoGreenRoutes, another project funded by the European Union’s H2020 programme, aim at studying these links between mental health and nature, and at providing adequate solutions.
- The RECETAS Project is testing a method of nature-based social prescribing on voluntary groups of people to evaluate the benefits on mental health and alleviate loneliness
- The GoGreenRoutes project is implementing nature-based solutions (green corridors, walkways, etc) to enhance the physical and mental health of urban residents.
These two projects tend to strengthen the evidence demonstrating that spending time in nature, in a group but also alone, can alleviate feelings of loneliness and beis positive on both physical and mental health. The article mentions a few examples of how the projects are being implemented and their results:
- In Prague, where the RECETAS Project formed a group that has been helpful to people going through tough times.
- In Lahti, where a forest walkway has been built to bring the benefits of nature to workers, patients and visitors.
–> Find out more: https://projects.research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/en/horizon-magazine/health-powers-birdsong-breezes-and-bushes
Sources
- Khullar, D. (2016, December 22). How Social Isolation Is Killing Us. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/upshot/how-social-isolation-is-killing-us.html
- National Academies of Sciences E, Medicine. Social isolation and loneliness in older adults: Opportunities for the health care system. National Academies Press; 2020.
