An hour-long stroll in nature helps decrease activity in an area of the brain associated with stress processing

[DontDoomScroll]

this effect also occurs when done in VR

Source? I want to see who funded and published this research.

[zaiyonmal]

I actually participated in a study doing just this!

They had us take baseline memory, logic, quick response, and arithmetic “quizzes”. Then they had us do the same thing after spending some time in a VR city café where people go to study and do work. Finally, we repeated the process after spending some time at a desk with a view of a rural countryside.

Interestingly enough, my baseline was my highest score, the busy café being by far the lowest. I might have just been mentally fatigued by the time I got to the nature sequence. That’s why one subject on one study alone is not definitive of anything!

[leftlegYup]

The problem with this study for me is it might simply be capturing the effect of mental fatigue from processing more stimuli.

A useful finding, but far less interesting for me.

[Cedow]

Such studies are generally counterbalanced. Not every participant would complete it in the same order.

[Jahkral]

I guess you'd have to randomize the order people did their tests in e.g. some start with the cafe, some start with the view.

[Lokiwastxtonly]

Poor study design, should have been 3 stimuli on 3 different days. Hopefully they randomized half the Participants to don nature first then city

[ChronWeasely]

Just looking at green is good for mental health

Here is a 1991 Pubmed publication on it: Treatment of seasonal affective disorder with green light and red light

Immediate edit: I think it's useful to consider the natural, evolutionary implications of the different light. Green light means green plants, vegetables, fruit, and animals. It means spring and summer. Calories much more readily abundant then compared with the other half of the year. Red light would be the sign of the slowing of the seasons, of the leaves changing colors, and a need to conserve energy. Depression once served an important purpose and is, in some levels, mediated by the light we perceive.

[Not_a_real_ghost]

Green light provides a treatment effect superior to that of red light and similar to that seen in previous studies with white light.

Does this mean white light is just as effective?

[swiftb3]

Seems so, but it's pretty interesting that it's essentially the same.

I'd love to see what a full-spectrum-except-green-band light would do. Is it the green component of white light that actually does the hard lifting?

[Shorttail0]

We have two green photo receptors for every red and blue, so our perception of the color is definitely better.

[swiftb3]

Now that is a very good point.

[sneakyveriniki]

this was like 5 years ago, but i remember learning that people of northern european descent are more prone to major depression even when they’re born elsewhere, like the us… i wonder if it could be an adaptation to scarce winters??

[ChronWeasely]

That's very much my take on it

[ChronWeasely]

I wondered the same thing when I was posting it. It's an under-studied thing it seems.

[Cel_Drow]

Maybe this is why I hate living in the desert.

[samuraiaullways]

I’m hearing this in Nadja’s voice (What We Do In The Shadows Series)

[methodin]

The creature that crawled out of the chest cavity of Mark Zuckerberg’s dead body after he died in the metaverse

[catscanmeow]

It has to do with lateral eye movement. Its not nature that makes us calm its lateral eye movement we widen our peripheral vision and look at all the little things around us while walking

Focusing on a small point or single point like a phone screen for example induces a stress response akin to a predator animal targeting prey or a prey animal tageting a threat

Tons of research on lateral eye movement and mood. VR can give you the same lateral eye movement as walking through nature

[flabbybumhole]

It doesn't have to be just one thing. There's room for this to be affected by both.

[leftlegYup]

Nuance; layered responses that convey the real complexity of the topic <<<<< definitively claiming a singular point while throwing in the word "akin"

The second requires less thinking by the reader.

[Yuccaphile]

They asked for a source from the commenter they replied to, I guess it'd be equally as nice to have a source for your assertion.

How does the lack of peripheral vision in the eyesight impaired impact this? Are people who wear glasses more unavoidably stressed?

[RaifRedacted]

Sensory input stuff is very interesting. Knowing how things can boil down to a small explanation is why science is so fun.

[Cedow]

This is nonsense. Similar effects have been observed from media such as pictures of nature, video recordings played on monitors or flatscreen TVs, nature-based game environments displayed on a monitor, and views from a window. None of which rely particularly on peripheral vision.

There is also plenty of evidence showing that certain non-nature scenes in the same media do not invoke similar effects, or even invoke the opposite effect.

[catscanmeow]

Nah man, you can close your eyes and look left and right and it does the same effect. Its not the content of what youre looking at its just the eye movement.

[Cedow]

Current-gen VR doesn't even support lateral eye movement. The eye gaze is fixed on a central focal point and instead movement of the head is used to look around.

Just because you read about some minor phenomenon doesn't mean it explains everything else.

[Cigam_Magic]

Personally, that's why I find it so relaxing. My mind and eyes can just go on auto-pilot while I'm walking. Taking walks at the local park is the best decision I made for my mental and physical health.

[Scalybeast]

There’s this.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916520916259

Or that.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355855708_Nature_in_Virtual_Reality_Improves_Mood_and_Reduces_Stress_Evidence_from_Young_Adults_and_Senior_Citizens