Physical Activity in Natural Settings

Exercise interactions with green and blue spaces offer low-cost, non-invasive solutions to public health challenges-particularly around mental health and obesity-and issues around environmental sustainability. Physical Activity in Natural Settings brings together multi-disciplinary, international research on physical activity, health and the natural environment, offering evidence-based guidance on implementing nature-based solutions at individual, patient and population levels. Divided over four sections, the book assesses the current research landscape, explores the underlying psychological and physiological mechanisms of the benefits of green exercise, details applied examples of physical activity in natural settings, and suggests future directions for research and practice. It features contributions from experts from around the world and covers topics including: - Self-determination, nature and wellbeing - Visual cognition and multisensory stimuli - Nature's role in growing resilience - Physical education and nature - Mindfulness and green exercise - Positive psychology and pro-environmental behaviour Timely and prescient, and showcasing real-life examples of green exercise prescription, Physical Activity in Natural Settings is fascinating and important reading for any students or researchers in the psychology or physiology of physical activity and health, physical education or outdoor studies, and policy-makers and health professionals.

Aoife A. Donnelly is a Lecturer in the School of Food Science and Environmental Health at the Technical University, Dublin, Ireland. Previously, she was an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funded post-­doctoral researcher and developed an operational real time air quality forecast model using integrated parametric and non-­parametric regression techniques. Her PhD studies explored background air pollution concentration variations across Ireland. She is a founding member of the GO GREEN (Going Outdoors: Gathering Research Evidence on Emotions and Nature) research initiative. Tadhg E. MacIntyre is a Lecturer with the Health Research Institute and course director for the Masters in Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology at the University of Limerick, Ireland. Since 2011, he has been an HCPC accredited practitioner in sport psychology in the UK and has been a member of the Irish Institute of Sport quality assurance panel since 2007. Previously, he has conducted funded research for the following agencies: World Anti-Doping Agency, the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences, the British Psychological Society, Erasmus + European Union funding and he is a member of the Strategic Level Expert Advisory Board of the H2020 project Re-Nature. He is a founding member of the GO GREEN (Going Outdoors: Gathering Research Evidence on Emotions and Nature) research initiative.

PART I: The Research Landscape 1. Friend or Foe: Salutogenic Possibilities of the Environment 2. Societal Challenges, Methodological Issues and Transdisciplinary Approaches 3. Known knowns: a systematic review of the effects of green exercise compared with exercising indoors 4. The green exercise concept: Two intertwining pathways to health and well-being 5. Meaning, Nature, And Well-Being Part II: Possible Mechanisms 6. The Cognitive Neuroscience of Nature: From Motor Cognition to Grounded Cognition 7. Affective responses to natural environments: From Everyday Engagement to Therapeutic Impact 8. A Remedy for Boredom: Natural Environments as a Psychological Resource 9. Growing Resilience through Connecting with Nature Part III: Case Studies 10. From Tracks to Trails: Case Studies in Green Exercise 11. Immersion, Watersports and Blueways and the Blue Mind: Case Studies in Blue Exercise 12. Why outdoors? A systematic approach to examine and value the social benefits of outdoor sports 13. 'Doing' Adventure: The Mental Health Benefits of using Occupational Therapy Approaches in Adventure Therapy Settings 14. Greening education: Education outside the classroom in natural settings as a school-based health promotion approach for children and young people Part IV: Future Pathways 15. Future-Thinking through Technological Nature: Connecting or Disconnecting 16. "Dreadmills": Is there such a thing as sustainable exercise 17. Mindfulness and Green Exercise: Enhancing Our Relationship with Physical Activity and the Natural World 18. Nature-based Interventions Cities: A Look Ahead