Natural England

As a follow up to yesterday's post, here's a link to Natural England, which held a conference in the UK last summer to discuss the issue of the outdoors and the connections to public health.

"Dr Bird’s research for ‘Natural Thinking’ found that:

* People’s stress levels fell within minutes of contact with nature.
* Hospital patients with views of nature needed fewer painkillers following operations.
* Elderly people with easy access to nature are much happier with their quality of life.
* Nature aids the part of the brain that controls irritability, helping to reduce violent behaviour.
* Playing in a natural environment improved children’s concentration, self-discipline and their social and mental development, as well as reducing the symptoms of conditions like attention deficit disorder (ADHD)."

We tried to find a copy of the report, no luck yet...