Why forests are important to our physical and mental health

What is it about?

Humans benefit from spending time in a natural environment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people were not allowed to travel far from home. Many public places were closed. This affected people’s physical and mental health. This study looked at people’s activities during lockdown In Germany. Although some public places were closed, people were allowed to go out and spend time in nature. The scientists were interested in whether more people were spending time in ‘urban forests’ – areas of towns and cities were trees grow. They invited people to fill in a questionnaire, and looked at social media posts. They also visited urban forests to see what kinds of things people were doing during their visits. Gathering information in different ways means that scientists can analyze a problem in different ways. They can look at numbers – how many people went to the forest? And they can also explore emotions – how did visiting the forest make people feel? It can be useful to do both kinds of research together.

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Photo by Hector Argüello Canals on Unsplash

Photo by Hector Argüello Canals on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study found that lockdown led to more visits to urban forests. Some people said they visited the forest for exercise. Other people said they went to the forest because they felt stressed. Some people wanted to spend time in a place where there were other people. KEY TAKEAWAY: Natural spaces such as forests are important for our physical and mental health.