As of this morning, more than 45,000 health professionals in Quebec are now equipped to recommend exposure to nature to their patients thanks to Prescri-Nature, a new program launched in collaboration with the BC Parks Foundation. Along with physical activity, sleep, and diet, exposure to nature is gaining status as an essential service for cultivating healthy mental health and improving physical health.
Posted at 11:00 a.m.
Over the past two years, we’ve talked about mental health more than ever. For many, the containment measures linked to the COVID-19 pandemic have fueled a desire to spend time outdoors, reminding us of the importance of wide open spaces and the calm offered by regular contact with nature. We treasured the plots of greenery and water near our homes. Outings to the park to get some fresh air, see friends, take a breather, have become increasingly important in our daily lives. So much so that 82% of us now consider parks more essential for our mental health than before the pandemic.1
It’s been known for a long time: being exposed to nature brings benefits to our physical and psychological health. Hundreds of studies, some dating back to the 1980s, support this claim.
Being close to natural environments brings a feeling of calm, improves our self-esteem, stimulates our social relationships and generates a feeling of joy and well-being.2 20 minutes of contact with a natural environment is enough to lower the blood level of cortisol, known as the stress hormone. Repeat this activity several times a week and it can have a lasting positive impact on our psychological well-being.
Prescri-Nature is a big step forward. The program allows all health professionals in Quebec to easily access popular data on the links between health and nature and to use it in an informed way in their daily practice. It is also a platform for those who want to learn more and make their loved ones aware of the importance of green spaces and their benefits.
But to take advantage of these advantages, you still need to have access to local nature! The “yes to trees, but not to the detriment of parking lots” vision, reinforced by our automobile-based way of life, is still too widespread.
Our cities still do not provide easy access to green and natural spaces through active modes of travel. Some populations – seniors, people with reduced mobility, people hospitalized or living in long-term care facilities, and those living in disadvantaged neighborhoods – live in nature-deficient environments with too many insurmountable barriers, which constitute a major source of socio-health inequalities.
Increasingly frequent positions on the conservation of natural environments and green spaces are issued by the municipal, university and community sectors: the government must respond to the call and assert itself as a leader, with ambitious projects to protect its population, especially in a context of climate and health crises and loss of biodiversity.
We need ambitious policies in land use planning, integrating the protection of existing natural environments and accessibility to parks through green, pleasant and safe frameworks. Nature is a remedy for adapting to climate change and promoting the health of populations. She is an essential ally of our mental health and offers us her services free of charge. In return, our responsibility is to take care of it and demand its protection.
* Co-signatories, members of the Prescri-Nature collective: DD Isabelle Bradette, D.D Johanne Elsener, D.D Sarah Bergeron, DD Caroline Laberge and Emmett Phil Corriat