A natural solution to improving the quality and quantity of physical activity.

尽管有充分的证据证明定期体育活动（PA）对精神和身体健康有益，但英国仍有数百万人未能达到世界卫生组织的推荐水平（Bull等人，2020年;英国政府，2022年）。这种长期不活动每年花费NHS 4.55亿英镑（英国公共卫生，2016）。不同年龄组、性别、地理区域和收入群体在参与公共行政方面存在显著的不平等（Haskell，Blair and Hill，2009），这进一步强调了研究新战略以促进公共行政参与的必要性。一个有希望的解决方案可能存在于自然之中，它有可能促进参与公共行政并提高公共行政的质量。公共卫生研究已经确定压力和疲劳是参与PA的主要障碍（Stults-Kolehmainen和Sinha，2014; Bláfoss等人，2019），而积极的心理状态预测PA的参与度增加（Aurora，Disabato和Coifman，2022）。实验工作报告了在暴露于自然环境后减少的压力和疲劳，以及改善的情绪（Frumkin等人，2017）强调了以自然为基础的PA促进与PA持续接触的潜力。大自然的接触也可以提高PA的质量。我的硕士研究第一次确定了自然引起的身体表现的改善。这一观察结果对于提高公众参与中强度到高强度PA的能力具有重要意义，这比低强度PA具有更大的健康益处（Nayor等人，2021).目的和目标本研究旨在探索潜在的利用自然，以改善获得与PA相关的健康益处。MethodsPhase 1将是对自然暴露对PA参与，表现和健康影响的现有知识的系统回顾。第二阶段将涉及实验工作和主要数据收集，以共同创建和评估与城市环境相比，基于自然的干预措施对PA的参与和绩效的有效性。这项工作将与多个利益攸关方合作进行。本数据收集阶段旨在回答以下问题：自然暴露是否a）增加与PA的接触; B）增加运动表现和c）增加整体健康。目前预计，对干预措施的实验评估将涉及平衡交叉随机对照试验。参与者将被随机分配到城市或森林环境中完成锻炼协议，然后在四周后返回另一个环境中重复该协议。将使用运动意向量表（Huang和Wu，2021）和PA享受量表（Kendzierski和DeCarlo，1991）测量PA参与度。将通过考虑心血管和肌肉功能来测量PA性能。此外，还将采取生理压力和心理状态措施。目前，自然暴露是一种有前途的公共卫生干预措施，以提高人口获得与PA相关的健康益处。然而，目前没有足够的证据支持其适用。该项目将产生所需的知识，以制定有效的战略，通过在自然环境中锻炼来改善公众健康。我还希望，通过了解自然在人类健康中的作用，社会将更好地重视自然环境，并最终采取更协调一致的努力来保护和再生自然世界。

Despite the well-documented mental and physical health benefits of regular physical activity (PA), millions of people in the UK fail to meet the World Health Organisation's recommended levels (Bull et al., 2020; GOV.UK, 2022). This chronic inactivity costs the NHS £455 million per year (Public Health England, 2016). Significant inequalities exist in engagement with PA across different age groups, sexes, geographical areas and income groups (Haskell, Blair and Hill, 2009), further emphasising the need for research into novel strategies to boost PA participation.A promising solution may lie in nature, which has the potential to promote engagement with PA and enhance the quality of PA undertaken. Public health research has identified stress and fatigue as major barriers to engagement in PA (Stults-Kolehmainen and Sinha, 2014; Bláfoss et al., 2019), while a positive psychological state predicts increased engagement with PA (Aurora, Disabato and Coifman, 2022). Experimental work reporting reduced stress and fatigue, and improved mood, following exposure to natural environments (Frumkin et al., 2017) highlights the potential of nature-based PA to promote sustained engagement with PA. Nature exposure may also enhance the quality of PA undertaken. My Masters research identified, for the first time, nature-induced improvements in physical performance. This observation has significant implications for improving the public's ability to engage in moderate-to-vigorous PA, which has greater health benefits than low-intensity PA (Nayor et al., 2021).Aims and ObjectivesThis research seeks to explore the potential use of nature to improve access to the health benefits associated with PA. MethodsPhase 1 will be a systematic review of current knowledge of the effect of nature exposure on PA engagement, performance and health. Phase 2 will involve experimental work and primary data collection to co-create and assess the effectiveness of a nature-based intervention on engagement with and performance of PA, compared to urban environments. This work will be performed in collaboration with multiple stakeholders. This data collection phase aims to answer the question of whether nature exposure a) increases engagement with PA; b) increases exercise performance and c) increases holistic health.It is currently anticipated that experimental assessment of the intervention will involve a counterbalanced crossover randomised controlled trial. Participants will be randomly assigned to complete the exercise protocol in either an urban or forest environment, before returning four weeks later to repeat the protocol in the other environment. Engagement with PA will be measured using the Exercise Intention Scale (Huang and Wu, 2021) and the PA Enjoyment Scale (Kendzierski and DeCarlo, 1991) PA performance will be measured through consideration of both cardiovascular and muscular function. Additionally, measures of physiological stress and psychological state will be taken. At present, nature exposure represents a promising public health intervention to enhance population access to the health benefits associated with PA. However, there is currently insufficient evidence to inform its application. This project will generate the knowledge required to develop effective strategies to improve public health through exercise in natural environments. I also hope that by understanding nature's role in human health, society will better value natural environments and, ultimately, undertake more concerted efforts to conserve and regenerate the natural world.