How does nature exposure make people healthier?: Evidence for the role of impulsivity and expanded space perception

Meredith A Repke, Meredith S Berry, Lucian G Conway, Alexander Metcalf, Reid M Hensen and Conor Phelan

PLOS ONE, 2018, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-20

Abstract: Nature exposure has been linked to a plethora of health benefits, but the mechanism for this effect is not well understood. We conducted two studies to test a new model linking the health benefits of nature exposure to reduced impulsivity in decision-making (as measured by delay discounting) via psychologically expanding space perception. In study 1 we collected a nationwide U.S. sample (n = 609) to determine whether nature exposure was predictive of health outcomes and whether impulsive decision-making mediated the effect. Results indicated that Nature Accessibility and Nature Exposure From Home significantly predicted reduced scores on the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scales (DASS) (p

Date: 2018
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0202246

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202246

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