The Conversation

"Why diversity in nature could be the key to mental wellbeing" by Professor Andrea Mechelli, published in The Conversation.

Biodiverse nature offers more stimulation for the senses, which may improve concentration, reduce mental fatigue and restore cognitive resources – such as memory and attention span. Also, people living in or near a natural space tend to spend more time exercising or socialising outdoors, both of which promote the release of endorphins and other mood-boosting hormones.

Diverse natural environments also play essential roles in reducing pollutants and moderating temperatures. This helps protect against chronic physical conditions such as allergies and asthma, while decreasing stress levels and enhancing mental wellbeing.

The science, then, is clear: biodiversity is critical not only for the health of our planet but also for human mental health. Our research shows biodiversity must be considered part of the vital infrastructure of our cities. You can read the full article here.

Andrea Mechelli is a Professor of Early Intervention in Mental Health, King's College London.

Published in Scientific Reports and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and Wellcome, this citizen science study used the smartphone application Urban Mind to collect real-time reports on mental wellbeing and natural diversity from nearly 2000 participants. Data were collected using the Urban Mind app, developed by King’s College London, landscape architects J&L Gibbons and arts foundation Nomad Projects.

The Urban Mind project is funded by a Wellcome Climate Impacts Award, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre and the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South London.

Mental Health Benefits of Biodiversity

The Urban Mind team has found that natural spaces with a diverse range of natural features are associated with stronger improvements in our mental wellbeing compared to spaces with less natural diversity.

Published in Scientific Reports and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and Wellcome, this citizen science study used the smartphone application Urban Mind to collect real-time reports on mental wellbeing and natural diversity from nearly 2000 participants.

Researchers found that environments with a larger number of natural features, such as trees, birds, plants and waterways, were associated with greater mental wellbeing than environments with fewer features, and that these benefits can last for up to eight hours. Further analysis found that nearly a quarter of the positive impact of nature on mental health was attributed to a diversity of features. These findings highlight that policies and practices that support richness of nature and species are beneficial both for environment and for public mental health.

Lead author Ryan Hammoud, Research Assistant at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London, said:

“To our knowledge, this is the first study examining the mental health impact of everyday encounters with biodiversity in real-life contexts. Our results highlight that by protecting and promoting natural diversity we can maximise the benefits of nature for mental wellbeing. In practice, this means moving away from heavily curated monocultural pockets and parks of mown grass, which are typically associated with low biodiversity, towards polycultural spaces which mirror the biodiversity of natural ecosystems. By showing how natural diversity boosts our mental wellbeing, we provide a compelling basis for how to create greener and healthier urban spaces”.

The study took place between April 2018 and September 2023, with 1,998 participants completing over 41,000 assessments. Each participant was asked to complete three assessments per day over a period of 14 days, entering information about their environment and answering a series of questions about their mental health. Natural diversity was defined by how many out of four natural features –trees, plants, birds and water - were present within the participant’s surrounding environment.

Senior author Andrea Mechelli, Professor of Early Intervention in Mental Health at the IoPPN, said:

“In the context of climate change, we are witnessing a rapid decline in biodiversity in the UK as well as globally. Our results suggest that biodiversity is critical not only for the health of our natural environments but also for the mental wellbeing of the people who live in these environments. It is time to recognise that biodiversity brings co-benefits for planetary and human health and needs to be considered critical infrastructure within our cities”.

Our research has been published in Scientific Reports.

Published in Scientific Reports and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and Wellcome, this citizen science study used the smartphone application Urban Mind to collect real-time reports on mental wellbeing and natural diversity from nearly 2000 participants. Data were collected using the Urban Mind app, developed by King’s College London, landscape architects J&L Gibbons and arts foundation Nomad Projects.

The Urban Mind project is funded by a Wellcome Climate Impacts Award, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre and the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South London.

Mental Health Benefits of Birdlife

Urban Mind research has found that seeing or hearing birds is associated with an improvement in mental wellbeing that can last up to eight hours. This improvement was also evident in people with a diagnosis of depression – the most common mental illness worldwide – indicating the potential role of birdlife in helping those with mental health conditions.

Published in Scientific Reports, the study used smartphone application Urban Mind to collect people’s real-time reports of mental wellbeing alongside their reports of seeing or hearing birdsong.

“There is growing evidence on the mental health benefits of being around nature and we intuitively think that the presence of birdsong and birds would help lift our mood. However, there is little research that has actually investigated the impact of birds on mental health in real-time and in a real environment. By using the Urban Mind app we have for the first time showed the direct link between seeing or hearing birds and positive mood. We hope this evidence can demonstrate the importance of protecting and providing environments to encourage birds, not only for biodiversity but for our mental health.” Ryan Hammoud (lead author).

Our research has been published in Scientific Reports and The Guardian, The Washington Post, National Geographic.

'Lonely in a crowd: investigating the association between overcrowding and loneliness using smartphone technologies'

Over the past couple of years we have been exploring how contact with nature, especially in cities, can help reduce loneliness.

Loneliness - the feeling of distress resulting from a discrepancy between one’s desired and actual social relationships, is a universal experience, found irrespective of age, gender, socioeconomic status and culture. Prospective studies suggest that the degree of loneliness predicts subsequent mental health symptoms, including depression, alcoholism, suicidal behaviour and cognitive decline leading to Alzheimer’s disease, and physical health issues, including immune and cardiovascular disease.

To put things into perspective, while air pollution, obesity, and excessive alcohol use have been found to increase a person's mortality risk by 6%, 23%, and 37% respectively, loneliness increases the risk of death by 45%. Our research found that feelings of overcrowding increased loneliness by an average of 39%. But when people were able to see trees or hear birds, feelings of loneliness fell by 28%.

Our new research has been published in Scientific Reports and The Guardian .

The mental health benefits of visiting canals and rivers

The study found that visiting canals and rivers was associated with a greater improvement in mental wellbeing, and this relationship was still present when accounting for individual variation due to age, gender, education, ethnicity, and a diagnosis of a mental health condition. People also reported continued improvements in their mental wellbeing for up to 24 hours after the visit had taken place.

Researchers report that the combination of blue and green space with wildlife has a greater impact on wellbeing than spending time in an environment that is characterised by only green space. Results from this first of its kind study showed positive associations between visits to canals and rivers and mental wellbeing, as well as a positive experience for feelings of safety and social inclusion relative to all other types of environments (such as indoors, outside in an urban environment, or near green spaces).

Canals and rivers contain not only water but also an abundance of trees and plants, which means their capacity to improve mental wellbeing is likely to be due to the multiple benefits associated with both green and blue spaces. Canals and rivers also provide homes to a range of wildlife, and we know from other research that there is a positive association between encountering wildlife and mental wellbeing. Taken collectively, these findings provide an evidence base for what we thought about water and wellbeing and support the proposal that visits to canals and rivers could become part of social prescribing schemes, playing a role in supporting mental health. Professor Andrea Mechelli (senior author)

Our research has been published in Scientific Reports and The Evening Standard.

Urban Mind: Using Smartphone Technologies to Investigate the Impact of Nature on Mental Well-Being in Real Time

In January 2018 Urban Mind we published our first research paper in BioScience, a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Oxford University Press, on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences.

Our research explored the relationship between exposure to nature and mental wellbeing. We found that (i) being outdoors, seeing trees, hearing birdsong, seeing the sky, and feeling in contact with nature were associated with higher levels of mental wellbeing, and that (ii) the beneficial effects of nature were especially evident in those individuals with greater levels of impulsivity who are at greater risk of mental health issues.

The full article can be found here!