A new study by the South China Botanical Garden in Guangzhou revealed the impact of natural exposure (contact with nature) and nature connection on mental health (the subjective feeling of the relationship between humans and nature). It can alleviate the symptoms of depression, and the stronger people's subjective feelings about nature, the easier it is to have a sense of happiness, and it can also relatively reduce the risk of depression.

Relevant research results have recently been published in the academic journal Landscape and Urban Planning.

　　Statistics show that the lifetime prevalence of various neurological disorders in adults in my country is as high as 16.6%, and the burden of mental health diseases ranks second in the total disease burden. It is urgent to strengthen the introduction of intervention policies and infrastructure to promote mental health.

　　Dr. Liu Hongxiao from the Ecological Center of the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, under the guidance of Researcher Ren Hai, conducted a questionnaire survey in Guangzhou in 2020, and collected the green space exposure (contact with green space) indicators of residents, including the frequency of green space visits, the duration of visits, the area of ​​parks within 500 meters of the community, and the most frequent The distance of parks visited, etc., as well as the indicators of natural connection and mental health (depression, life satisfaction, and sense of life value), and through research, it was found that the degree of natural connection in improving subjective well-being (sense of life value, sense of well-being, etc.) Contribution exceeds natural exposure, which contributes more to depression relief than natural connectedness.

　　Compared with the people with lower natural connection degree, the people with higher natural connection degree have 7% and 6.4% higher sense of life value and happiness respectively, and the risk of depression is reduced by 2.5%.

　　A large body of evidence has previously shown that green space exposure behavior can reduce the prevalence of mental illness and improve subjective well-being, but few studies have focused on the impact of subjective natural connection on the relationship between green space exposure and mental health.

This study found that the mental health effects of green space exposure were more pronounced than in people with a high degree of natural connection.

Research has also shown that in order to improve the mental health benefits of the natural environment, it is not only necessary to increase green space exposure by increasing green space or encouraging people to participate in outdoor activities, but also to greatly improve people's subjective perception of nature.

　　(Nara)