Measuring the Natural Environment - Wellbeing in non-'green' Climates.

心理健康状况是一个日益严重的公共卫生问题，预计到2030年，心理健康状况将成为全球死亡和发病的主要原因（世卫组织，2011年）。亲生物假说提出，人类与自然一起进化，对自然环境有亲和力，这一假说导致了注意力恢复理论（ART）和压力减轻理论（SRT），它们表明了人类健康可能受到自然环境影响的不同机制。此外，大自然可以通过多种方式影响健康，例如减少接触污染物，增加社会联系，并提供体育锻炼的机会。目前的研究表明，积极的心理健康与自然环境（如广义的“绿色空间”）之间有着密切的联系。最近，研究转向关注自然和与自然的联系，而不是“绿色空间”，发现自然暴露与认知功能、大脑活动、血压、心理健康、身体活动和睡眠之间的联系。然而，目前的研究大多局限于以欧洲为中心的城市/郊区绿地研究，在气候条件下，开放空间被植被所占据（Astell-Burt, Mitchell & Hartig）。Van den Burg et al., 2014, 2016, Xu et al., 2019)。当前研究的局限性给在全球范围内应用研究带来了挑战，该项目的目的是开发一种更具包容性的自然环境测量方法，并调查其对健康的影响。本项目将使用澳大利亚研究“45岁及以上”的二手数据。45岁及以上人群是一项纵向研究，始于2005年，跟踪调查了城市、农村和偏远地区的25万多人，目的是了解老龄化和其他可能影响健康和福祉的因素。该研究收集了有关身体活动（类型和持续时间）和健康（身心健康）的地理空间数据和信息，以及参与者每天在户外度过多长时间以及个人是否定期在户外散步的数据。该项目的三个目标是：1)制定一个更具包容性的自然环境衡量标准，包括多种数据（如地形、到蓝色空间的距离、地表覆盖、人口密度、植被覆盖），考虑到不同国家和地区的地理差异。2)使用澳大利亚“45岁及以上”研究，在地理上不同的样本中，调查这一指标对幸福感的预测能力。3)调查行为中介（如身体活动水平）的作用及其在自然环境与健康之间关系中的潜在中介效应。事实证明，在气候有利于绿色灌木和常绿树木生长的地区，实施改善心理健康的绿色空间倡议（如国民保健制度森林项目）是成功的，然而，如果在炎热干燥的气候中实施，这类项目将不可持续。因此，该项目旨在确定环境的潜在替代特征，这些特征可以调解自然与健康之间的关系，特别是在开放空间没有植被的气候条件下。

Mental health conditions are a growing public health concern, by 2030 it is projected that mental health conditions will be the leading cause of mortality and morbidity globally (WHO, 2011). The biophilia hypothesis proposes that humans have evolved alongside nature to have an affinity for natural environments, this hypothesis has led to the Attention Restoration Theory (ART) and the Stress Reduction Theory (SRT) which indicate different mechanisms by which human health might be affected by time spent in nature. Additionally, there are multiple ways in which nature can impact health, such as reduced exposure to pollutants, increasing social connections, and providing opportunities for physical exercise. Current research indicates a strong association between positive mental health and aspects of the natural environment such as the broadly defined 'greenspace'. More recently the research has turned to focussing on naturalness and connection to nature over 'greenspace', finding associations between nature exposure and cognitive function, brain activity, blood pressure, mental health, physical activity, and sleep. However, much of the current research is limited to Eurocentric urban/suburban greenspace studies in climates where open space is habited by vegetation (Astell-Burt, Mitchell & Hartig., 2014, Van den Burg et al., 2016, Xu et al., 2019). The limitations of current studies create challenges when applying the research globally, the aim of this project is to develop a more inclusive measure of the natural environment and investigate its impact on wellbeing. For this project secondary data from the Australian study "45 and Up" will be used. 45 and up is a longitudinal study that began in 2005 and follows over 250,000 individuals in urban, rural and remote areas in order to develop an understanding of ageing and other factors that may impact good health and wellbeing. The study has collected geospatial data and information regarding physical activities (type and duration) and health (physical and mental health), as well as data on how long participants spend outdoors daily and whether the individuals engage in regular walking sessions outdoors. The three objectives of this project are to: 1) Develop a more inclusive measure of the natural environment including diverse data (such as topography, distance to blue space, surface cover, population density, vegetation cover) that considers geographical variation in different countries and regions. 2) Investigate how predictive this measure is of wellbeing in a geographically diverse sample using the Australian Study "45 and Up". 3) Investigate the role of behavioural mediators (e.g., levels of physical activity) and their potential mediator effects on the relationship between the natural environment and wellbeing.Implementing green space initiatives for improving mental health, such as the NHS Forest project, are proving to be successful in areas where the climate supports growth of green shrubs and evergreen trees, however projects such as these will not be sustainable if implemented in hot dry climates. Therefore, this project aims to identify potential alternative characteristics of the environment that can mediate the relationship between nature and wellbeing, particularly in climates where open space is not habited by vegetation.