MEDIA RELEASE: R00143 – 29 June 2016

Need a pick-me-up? Just head to the nearest landfill — one that’s been converted to a park, that is.

New Brock University research has found strolling through green space that was once a landfill has positive impacts on mood and physical health and encourages a feeling of connectedness to nature.

“No one has really ever looked, experimentally, at the extent to which these naturalized landfills are beneficial for mood and overall well-being and yet, we’re restoring these landfills all over the country and the world,” says Shawn Geniole, graduate student and lead author of the study published June 27 in the journal Ecopsychology.

Each study participant walked two routes: one in the Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site in St. Catharines and the other through an adjacent business and commercial zone.

Researchers compared the physical and psychological impacts on participants from the two walks.

The results showed that, although alertness and attention increased and stress levels decreased after both routes, participants’ mood improved with the naturalized landfill walk but not with the urban walk. Overall, the study found the naturalized landfill walk increased participants’ connectedness to nature more than the urban walk.

“The main finding is that, although you get positive benefits from both walks, mood improvement was really specific to walking in nature,” says Professor of Psychology Cheryl McCormick, the research team’s leader.

“So, you can get some stress reduction and attention control increase in both walks, but the real psychological and health benefits — an improvement in mood — came from the naturalized landfill walk.”

The Brock study, Restoring land and mind: The benefits of an outdoor walk on mood are enhanced in a naturalized landfill area relative to its neighbouring urban area, comes at a time of rapid urbanization worldwide.

Various studies have shown people living in cities are more likely to develop mood disorders than those living in the countryside and that the likelihood of developing schizophrenia increases with the degree of exposure to an urban environment.

“Those are the people who need nature most, the ones who are least connected with it,” says McCormick. “They might be most susceptible to the harmful effects of urbanization.”

For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

* Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970
 
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