According To A Study, Exposure To Blue Spaces As A Child Is Related To Improved Adult Well-Being

According to a study, persons with better mental health are more likely to admit to having played in and around inland and coastal waters as kids, including rivers and lakes (together referred to as blue spaces).

Each of the nations surveyed confirmed the conclusion, which was based on data from 18 different countries and published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.

A growing body of research demonstrates that adult time spent in and near green areas like parks and woodlands is linked to stress reduction and improved mental health. The advantages of blue spaces, however, and the significance of early contact in the development of these relationships in later life are far less well understood.

The European Centre for Environment and Human Health at the University of Exeter conducted the cross-sectional study known as the BlueHealth International Survey (BIS), which provided the data. Over 15,000 people’s data from 14 European countries and 4 other non-European countries/regions were used in the current investigation (Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, and California).

They were also asked to recall more recent contact with green and blue spaces over the previous four weeks, as well as their mental health over the previous two weeks. The respondents were asked to recall their blue space experiences between the ages of 0 and 16 years, including how local they were, how frequently they visited them, and how comfortable their parents/guardians were with them playing in these settings.

The study, which was published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, found that those who remembered more childhood blue space experiences tended to value nature more intrinsically and to visit it more frequently as adults, both of which were linked to improved mental health as adults.

News Mania Desk