Creative Practice Week 8

For the majority of my creative practice this term, I chose to depict nature because I consider time spent in nature as one of our basic needs. Without fresh air and sunshine we become ill. All the beauty nature supplies is also a contributor to stress relief, inspiration, hope and well being. My personal experience is that I become depressed if I am unable to get outdoors, particularly so when the weather is bad and the skies are gray. I can barely function on those days. As a small child I was blessed with many opportunities to spend time in nature. My great grandparents were farmers. My grandparents had properties with creeks on them, which were wonderful for exploring. And my parents took us camping, hiking and fishing. Being in nature is just a part of who I am. Without it something feels very wrong. My best days are those when I can feel the sunshine and breeze on my skin. 

According to the journal article, “Using Nature and Outdoor Activity to Improve Children’s Health”, today's children may be the first generation at risk of having a shorter lifespan than their parents.¹ An increase in sedentary indoor lifestyles has contributed to childhood chronic conditions such as childhood obesity, asthma, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and vitamin D deficiency, all of which have increased in prevalence in the US over the past few decades.^2 and 3 Such conditions may lead to pulmonary, cardiovascular, and mental health problems that can persist into adulthood. While myriad advances in pediatric health care have been made over the past few decades, they have been accompanied by vast increases in chronic health issues. The increase in chronic health conditions is disproportionately affecting children of minority and low-socioeconomic communities, creating increased disparities in children's health. I totally concur with their belief that more focus is needed on sustainable, long-term prevention methods that promote healthy lifestyle changes. And that more emphasis on promotion of outdoor activity in nature is needed in children's health care (McCurdy, Winterbottom, Mehta, & Roberts, 2010).

 Initial findings in “Healthy nature healthy people: ‘contact with nature’ as an upstream health promotion intervention for populations” indicate that nature plays a vital role in human health and well being, and that parks and nature reserves play a significant role by providing access to nature for individuals. It further suggests that contact with nature may provide an effective population-wide strategy in prevention of mental ill health, with potential application for sub-populations, communities and individuals at higher risk of ill health (Maller, Townsend, Pryor, Brown, & Leger, 2006).

A multi-study analysis conducted by Jo Barton and Jules Pretty (2010) showed large benefits from short engagements in green exercise, and then diminishing but still positive returns. Green exercise is activity in the presence of nature. Every green environment improved both self-esteem and mood; the presence of water generated greater effects. Both men and women had similar improvements in self-esteem after green exercise, though men showed a difference for mood. Age groups: for self-esteem, the greatest change was in the youngest, with diminishing effects with age; for mood, the least change was in the young and old. The mentally ill had one of the greatest self-esteem improvements. This study confirms that the environment provides an important health service (Barton & Pretty, 2010).

According to Van Den Berg, Hartig and Staats (2007) research and theory on restorative environments provide an alternative perspective on urban residents' desire for contact with nature. From this perspective, people's desire for contact with green may even reflect an evolutionary heritage. Authors like Orians and Heerwagen (1992) and Kaplan and Kaplan (1989) have proposed that human appreciation of contact with nature may in part be a distant effect of the conditions under which early humans evolved. In the world they inhabited, it was of vital importance to approach nonthreatening objects and situations that provided shelter, food, and other basic necessities, and to evaluate positively informational characteristics of the environment that supported basic functions such as way finding. As a result, modern humans are still born with a predisposition to like or prefer certain features common to natural but not to urban or other built environments. This preference for nature has remained adaptive even for people who live in cities. Urbanites must often struggle to meet the demands of work, family, and other obligations against the backdrop of an environment that itself may contribute to a chronic experience of stress. Freely sought out contact with nature can provide some immediate relief from the demands of city life, by providing opportunities for the renewal of cognitive resources and psychophysiological response capabilities (e.g., Hartig, 2004; Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989; Ulrich, 1983, 1993).

Current trends in hospital design includes green spaces for both patients and visitors to enjoy. In fact, my work partner and cohort, Patty and I frequently enjoy our lunch in the garden outside the café. It is a pleasant break from the day’s work and we return refreshed. At Baptist Health’s newest hospital, the majority of the rooms look out on something green. And the majority of the artwork in the rooms and common areas are beautiful landscapes. Sometimes just walking through the halls provides inspiration and a respite from care.

Orians, G. H., & Heerwagen, J. H. (1992). Evolved responses to landscapes. In
           J.H.Barkow, L.Cosmides & J.Tooby (Eds.), The adapted mind: Evolutionary
           psychology and the generation of culture (pp. 555–579). Oxford, UK : Oxford
          University Press.

Kaplan, S., & Kaplan, R. (1989). The experience of nature: A psychological perspective.
          New York : Cambridge University Press.

Barton, J., & Pretty, J. (2010). What is the Best Dose of Nature and Green Exercise for Improving 
          Mental Health? A Multi-Study Analysis. Environmental Science & Technology, 44(10),
          3947–3955. http://doi.org/10.1021/es903183r

Maller, C., Townsend, M., Pryor, A., Brown, P., & Leger, L. S. (2006). Healthy nature healthy people:
          “contact with nature” as an upstream health promotion intervention for populations. Health
         Promotion International, 21(1), 45–54. http://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dai032

McCurdy, L. E., Winterbottom, K. E., Mehta, S. S., & Roberts, J. R. (2010). Using Nature and
         Outdoor Activity to Improve Children’s Health. Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent
         Health Care, 40(5), 102–117. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cppeds.2010.02.003

Hartig, T. (2004). Restorative environments. In C.Spielberger (Ed.), Encyclopedia of
           applied psychology (Vol. 3, pp. 273-279). San Diego , CA : Academic Press.

Ulrich, R. S. (1983). Aesthetic and affective response to natural environments. In
           I.Altman & J. F.Wohlwill (Eds.), Human behavior and environment: Advances in
           theory and research (Vol. 6, pp. 85–125). New York : Plenum Press.

Ulrich, R. S. (1993). Biophilia, biophobia and natural landscapes. In S.R.Kellert, &
           E.O.Wilson (Eds.). The biophilia hypothesis (pp. 73–137). Washington , DC :
           Island Press.

D.A. Mithal, D.A. Wahl, J.P. Bonjour, P. Burckhardt, B. Dawson-Hughes, J.A. Eisman,
          et al. Global vitamin D status and determinants of hypovitaminosis D Osteoporos
          Int, 20 (2009), pp. 1807–1820