Spending time in nature is often touted as good for your health, generally focusing on the positive effects on mental health, with the relaxing aspects of nature helping reduce anxiety and depression.
In addition to this research, recent and ongoing studies are exploring the benefits of nature on physical health, such as reduced:
And improved lung function
Spending time in nature—or what the experts refer to as “greenspace exposure”—provides exposure to:
Time spent outdoors in nature also encourages or is related to physical activity and social interaction, including conservation or volunteering tasks such as planting seedlings, weeding or fencing.
Dr Jessica Stanhope is a Lecturer at the University of Adelaide with a background in physiotherapy and epidemiology and a researcher with a particular interest in how healthy ecosystems help improve human health outcomes. She is in the midst of a study exploring the impact of greenspace exposure on improved pain outcomes, including through changes to the gut microbiome.
Many of us would have heard about the relationship between the gut microbiome and general health. Prebiotics, probiotics, various diets, and even faecal transplants are used to improve the gut microbiome. Jessica’s research is examining the ability to alter the gut microbiome through exposure to different environments—such as your home, workplace, or outdoor spaces— that contain different environmental microbiomes.
Initial studies have included isolated exposure of mice to different aerobiomes (microbiomes of the air). Soil was placed next to the mouse cage with a small fan blowing the microbes into the air. The three exposures were: low diversity soil, high diversity soil and no soil (the control). In the study, mice exposed to the more biodiverse soil showed fewer signs of anxiety than those not exposed to soil (the controls). This initial study provides evidence that a more biodiverse environmental microbiome can influence the gut microbiome, reducing signs of anxiety. Higher levels of anxiety are associated with poorer pain outcomes, indicating that exposure to microbial diverse green spaces supports reduced anxiety and improved pain outcomes. Jessica is now exploring how the impact of these exposures on anxiety, stress and pain outcomes.
Jessica’s studies are ongoing, and the researchers are expanding their studies to people living near and spending time in natural environments, such as residents who neighbour our Para Woodlands Nature Reserve near Gawler. The research will explore the gut impacts of exposure to soil microbiomes and phytoncides, which plants emit during growth, development, reproduction and defence mechanisms.
We look forward to sharing further updates regarding the study's outcomes and opportunities to become involved. In the meantime, let's all get outdoors—it’s good for your health!
You can read more about Jessica’s studies here:
environmentalphysio.com/2020/07/13/can-greenspace-exposure-improve-pain-outcomes/
sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001393512030534X
Planting day at Para Woodlands Nature Reserve in 2021, photo by Kelly Arbon.