Huffington Post: Hemingway, Thoreau, Jefferson and the Virtues of a Good Long WalkAugust 9, 2013 by Shannon
August 9th 2013.
"Research has also shown similar benefits to simply being around nature. One study showed that spending time in natural settings makes us more generous and more community-oriented, a conclusion that has "implications not only for city planning but also for indoor design and architecture," according to the study's co-author Richard Ryan of the University of Rochester Medical Center. Another study by Dutch researchers showed that those who live within one kilometer of a park or wooded area suffer lower rates of depression and anxiety. Even if we don't live amidst trees and greenery, we can always take a walk through them. When scaled up, this practice could have real societal consequences. "As health-care costs spiral out of control, it behooves us to think about our green space in terms of preventive health care," saidDr. Kathryn Kotrla of the Texas A&M College of Medicine. "This highlights very clearly that our Western notion of body-mind duality is entirely false. The study shows that we are a whole organism, and when we get healthy that means our body and our mind get healthy."
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/hemingway-thoreau-jeffers_b_3837002.html
By Arianna Huffington