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Green Exercise

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The choice of carrying out a narrative review was due to the inadequate availability of comparative studies of the effects of participating in physical activity in the natural environments and its effects on psychological and physiological health.
What is Green exercise?
Research over a decade ago led to the coining of the term green exercise to account for the effects of activity in natural blue and green spaces (Pretty et al., 2003). Previous research had shown the many physiological and psychological benefits of exercise, such as reduction in tension, depression, anxiety in addition to increases in energy, vitality and self concept (DiLorenzo, Bargman, Stucky-Ropp, Brassington, Frensch, & LaFontaine 1999 Hassmén, Koivula, & Uutela, 2000; Pollock, Franklin, Balady, Chaitman, Fleg, Fletcher, & Bazzarre 2000). Environmental Psychologists had found links between access to green environments and decreases in mood disturbances (Pretty, Peacock, Hine, Sellens, South, & Griffin, 2007; Takano, Nakamura, & Watanabe 2002) as well as …show more content…

Green exercise is defined as undertaking physical activity whilst being directly exposed to nature (Pretty et al., 2005; 2007). Pretty et al. (2003) were among the first wave of researchers to investigate the synergistic benefits of incorporating physical activity and exposure to the natural environment to produce positive psychological affect. In subsequent studies, this exposure to the natural environment ranged from a group of trees in a backyard or as vast as being in a complete wilderness setting (Barton & Pretty 2010; Kaplan & Berman, 2010; Kaplan, 1995). In the last decade, research examining green exercise has led to findings that provide tentative evidence for an array of psychological and physiological consequences. These include (Brymer, Cuddihy, and Sharma-Brymer, 2010), improvement in self esteem and commensurate reductions in total mood

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