Theory and research about the psychological effects of physical exercise in natural environments.

1. James Neill Centre for Applied Psychology University of Canberra Green Exercise: The psychological effects of exercising in nature Outdoor Recreation Industry Council Annual Conference August 14-15, 2009

2. Do not try this at home

4. Effects of nature

5. Effects of exercise

6. Green exercise research

7. Future directions

8. What is green exercise? Physical exercise performed in (relatively) natural settings .

9. Examples of green exercise

10. Examples of green exercise

11. Examples of green exercise

13. What happens to you when you participate in green exercise.

14. What do you like / not like about green exercise?

15. How does a green experience differ (if at all) from other exercise?

16. How much and what type of green exercise would you ideally like to do? What would be your 'ideal' green exercise experience?

17. What are the barriers to you doing more green exercise? 7. When you do do green exercise, what makes this possible? (What are the enablers?)

19. But some studies show benefits from less intense exercise.

21. Distraction

22. Neurobiological (endorphins; norepinephrine)

23. Thermogenic changes

24. Cardiovascular conditioning

26. Being in presence of nature / nature contact

27. Active participation and involvement with nature

30. Attention restoration theory: Recovery from directed attention fatigue

31. Effects of green exercise? Are there synergistic benefits from participating in physical activities whilst at the same time being directly exposed to nature?

32. Green exercise research studies: Jules Pretty http://www.julespretty.com

34. Participants run on a treadmill for 20 minutes whilst viewing a range of rural or urban scenes displayed on a screen and complete a number of questionnaires pre- and post-exercise.

35. Green exercise research: Pretty et al.'s (2005) treadmill study Pleasant Unpleasant Urban Urban-Pleasant Urban-Unpleasant Rural Rural-Pleasant Rural-Unpleasnat

37. Pleasant scene groups improved mood and self-esteem.

38. Only those who viewed rural pleasant scenes reported reductions in all 3 measures of blood pressure Green exercise research: Pretty et al.'s (2007) treadmill study

40. Mood and self-esteem improved pre- to post-activity

42. Exercise intensity

43. Exercise duration Green exercise research: Pretty et al.'s (2007) field study

45. Examine the effects of green exercise on stress and anxiety

47. Exercise duration

48. Exercise intensity

49. Greenness (naturalness)

51. Borg Scale used to measure intensity

52. The green exercise groups In the “bush capital” of Australia, 2008

53. Stress 10-item scale about current stress level

54. Anxiety 20-item scale about current anxiety level

55. Greenness rating scale Rating scale about perceived environmental naturalness

56. Duration Range = 10 to 220 mins, N = 84 Average = 90 mins

57. Ideal duration Much About Much shorter the same longer Ideally, would you preferred for this experience to have been? 37% longer 4% shorter 59% same

58. Intensity: Borg scale

59. Intensity Light Hard Very hard Somewhat hard Average = 14.7

60. Ideal intensity Much About Much less the same more Ideally, would you have preferred this experience to have been? 62% more 4% less 34% same

61. Greeness Average = 8.2

62. Ideal greeness 0% 50% 100% Natural Natural Natural What degree of naturalness would you have preferred? 93% more 0% less 7% same

64. Similar results for stress and anxiety

65. Changes in anxiety by group No change

68. a small, sig. effect

71. Perceived greenness and pleasantness helped to explain anxiety reductions.

74. Further test the relative contributions of exercise, nature, and synergistic effects of green exercise.

76. Green gyms

77. Vitamin G

79. Subjectivity of self-ratings

81. Indoor vs. outdoor exercise

82. Experimental design

83. Other psychological outcomes?

84. Psychological processes?

85. Long-term effects of sustained green exercise participation?

86. Qualitative

88. References Mackay, G. J. S., & Neill, J. T. (2009). The effect of “green exercise” on state anxiety and the role of exercise duration, intensity, and greenness: A quasi-experimental study . Manuscript submitted for publication. Pretty, J., Peacock, J., Sellens, M., & Griffen, M. (2005). The mental and physical health outcomes of green exercise. International Journal of Environmental Health Research , 15 , 319-337. Pretty, J., Peacock, J., Hine, R., Sellens, M., South, N., & Griffen, M. (2007). Green exercise in the UK countryside: Effects on health and psychological well-being, and implications for policy and planning. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management , 50 , 211-231.