IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i17p9010-d622702.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Relationship between Green and Blue Spaces with Mental and Physical Health: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Observational Studies

Author

Listed:
  • Mariya Geneshka

    (Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York YO10 4DD, UK)

  • Peter Coventry

    (Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York YO10 4DD, UK
    York Environmental Sustainability Institute, University of York, York YO10 4DD, UK)

  • Joana Cruz

    (Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, York YO10 5NG, UK
    Population, Policy and Practice, UCL Great Ormond St. Institute of Child Health, University College London, London WC1N 1EH, UK)

  • Simon Gilbody

    (Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York YO10 4DD, UK)

Abstract

There is growing interest in the ways natural environments influence the development and progression of long-term health conditions. Vegetation and water bodies, also known as green and blue spaces, have the potential to affect health and behaviour through the provision of aesthetic spaces for relaxation, socialisation and physical activity. While research has previously assessed how green and blue spaces affect mental and physical wellbeing, little is known about the relationship between these exposures and health outcomes over time. This systematic review summarised the published evidence from longitudinal observational studies on the relationship between exposure to green and blue space with mental and physical health in adults. Included health outcomes were common mental health conditions, severe mental health conditions and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). An online bibliographic search of six databases was completed in July 2020. After title, abstract and full-text screening, 44 eligible studies were included in the analysis. Depression, diabetes and obesity were the health conditions most frequently studied in longitudinal relationships. The majority of exposures included indicators of green space availability and urban green space accessibility. Few studies addressed the relationship between blue space and health. The narrative synthesis pointed towards mixed evidence of a protective relationship between exposure to green space and health. There was high heterogeneity in exposure measures and adjustment for confounding between studies. Future policy and research should seek a standardised approach towards measuring green and blue space exposures and employ theoretical grounds for confounder adjustment.

Suggested Citation

  • Mariya Geneshka & Peter Coventry & Joana Cruz & Simon Gilbody, 2021. "Relationship between Green and Blue Spaces with Mental and Physical Health: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Observational Studies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-29, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:17:p:9010-:d:622702
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/17/9010/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/17/9010/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jie-Sheng Lin & Faye Ya-Fen Chan & Jason Leung & Blanche Yu & Zhi-Hui Lu & Jean Woo & Timothy Kwok & Kevin Ka-Lun Lau, 2020. "Longitudinal Association of Built Environment Pattern with Physical Activity in a Community-Based Cohort of Elderly Hong Kong Chinese: A Latent Profile Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-15, June.
    2. Sarah A. Costigan & Jenny Veitch & David Crawford & Alison Carver & Anna Timperio, 2017. "A Cross-Sectional Investigation of the Importance of Park Features for Promoting Regular Physical Activity in Parks," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-10, November.
    3. Gert-Jan Vanaken & Marina Danckaerts, 2018. "Impact of Green Space Exposure on Children’s and Adolescents’ Mental Health: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-17, November.
    4. Liqing Zhang & Puay Yok Tan, 2019. "Associations between Urban Green Spaces and Health are Dependent on the Analytical Scale and How Urban Green Spaces are Measured," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-18, February.
    5. Mireia Gascon & Margarita Triguero-Mas & David Martínez & Payam Dadvand & Joan Forns & Antoni Plasència & Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen, 2015. "Mental Health Benefits of Long-Term Exposure to Residential Green and Blue Spaces: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-26, April.
    6. Giulia Melis & Elena Gelormino & Giulia Marra & Elisa Ferracin & Giuseppe Costa, 2015. "The Effects of the Urban Built Environment on Mental Health: A Cohort Study in a Large Northern Italian City," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, November.
    7. Michael, Y.L. & Perdue, L.A. & Orwoll, E.S. & Stefanick, M.L. & Marshall, L.M., 2010. "Physical activity resources and changes in walking in a cohort of older men," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(4), pages 654-660.
    8. Hao-Ting Chang & Chih-Da Wu & Wen-Chi Pan & Shih-Chun Candice Lung & Huey-Jen Su, 2019. "Association Between Surrounding Greenness and Schizophrenia: A Taiwanese Cohort Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-16, April.
    9. Jamie Pearce & Niamh Shortt & Esther Rind & Richard Mitchell, 2016. "Life Course, Green Space and Health: Incorporating Place into Life Course Epidemiology," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-11, March.
    10. Alice M Dalton & Andrew P Jones, 2020. "Residential neighbourhood greenspace is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease: A prospective cohort study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, January.
    11. Kaczynski, A.T. & Potwarka, L.R. & Saelens P, B.E., 2008. "Association of park size, distance, and features with physical activity in neighborhood parks," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(8), pages 1451-1456.
    12. Hobbs, M. & Griffiths, C. & Green, M.A. & Christensen, A. & McKenna, J., 2019. "Examining longitudinal associations between the recreational physical activity environment, change in body mass index, and obesity by age in 8864 Yorkshire Health Study participants," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 227(C), pages 76-83.
    13. Jenny Roe & Peter A. Aspinall & Catharine Ward Thompson, 2016. "Understanding Relationships between Health, Ethnicity, Place and the Role of Urban Green Space in Deprived Urban Communities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-21, July.
    14. Tiana C. L. Moreira & Jefferson L. Polizel & Itamar de Souza Santos & Demóstenes F. Silva Filho & Isabela Bensenor & Paulo A. Lotufo & Thais Mauad, 2020. "Green Spaces, Land Cover, Street Trees and Hypertension in the Megacity of São Paulo," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-14, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alistair Woodward & Andrea Hinwood & Daniel Bennett & Brenton Grear & Sotiris Vardoulakis & Neha Lalchandani & Katrina Lyne & Carmel Williams, 2023. "Trees, Climate Change, and Health: An Urban Planning, Greening and Implementation Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(18), pages 1-7, September.
    2. Zheng Xian & Tomoki Nakaya & Kun Liu & Bing Zhao & Junhua Zhang & Jiao Zhang & Yuxuan Lin & Jinguang Zhang, 2024. "The effects of neighbourhood green spaces on mental health of disadvantaged groups: a systematic review," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19, December.
    3. Argyro Anna Kanelli & Margarita Kokkinaki & Marios-Dimitrios Sinvare & Chrisovalantis Malesios & Panayiotis G. Dimitrakopoulos & Olga-Ioanna Kalantzi, 2023. "Keep Calm and Go Out: Urban Nature Exposure, Mental Health, and Perceived Value during the COVID-19 Lockdown," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-20, May.
    4. Xindi Zhang & Yixin Zhang & Jun Zhai & Yongfa Wu & Anyuan Mao, 2021. "Waterscapes for Promoting Mental Health in the General Population," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-15, November.
    5. Yu Sun & Xintong Ma & Yifeng Liu & Lingquan Meng, 2023. "Salary Satisfaction of Employees at Workplace on a Large Area of Planted Land," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-24, November.
    6. Lisa Dandolo & Klaus Telkmann & Christina Hartig & Sophie Horstmann & Sara Pedron & Lars Schwettmann & Peter Selsam & Alexandra Schneider & Gabriele Bolte & on behalf of the INGER Study Group, 2023. "Do Multiple Sex/Gender Dimensions Play a Role in the Association of Green Space and Self-Rated Health? Model-Based Recursive Partitioning Results from the KORA INGER Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(7), pages 1-23, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Phi-Yen Nguyen & Thomas Astell-Burt & Hania Rahimi-Ardabili & Xiaoqi Feng, 2021. "Green Space Quality and Health: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-38, October.
    2. Razieh Zandieh & Javier Martinez & Johannes Flacke, 2019. "Older Adults’ Outdoor Walking and Inequalities in Neighbourhood Green Spaces Characteristics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-18, November.
    3. Susanne Boers & Karin Hagoort & Floortje Scheepers & Marco Helbich, 2018. "Does Residential Green and Blue Space Promote Recovery in Psychotic Disorders? A Cross-Sectional Study in the Province of Utrecht, The Netherlands," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-8, October.
    4. Ho, Hung Chak & Cheng, Wei & Song, Yimeng & Liu, Yuqi & Guo, Yingqi & Lu, Shiyu & Lum, Terry Yat Sang & Chiu, Rebecca & Webster, Chris, 2022. "Spatial uncertainty and environment-health association: An empirical study of osteoporosis among “old residents” in public housing estates across a hilly environment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    5. Hania Rahimi-Ardabili & Thomas Astell-Burt & Phi-Yen Nguyen & Juan Zhang & Yu Jiang & Guang-Hui Dong & Xiaoqi Feng, 2021. "Green Space and Health in Mainland China: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-22, September.
    6. Yang Yang & Zhifang Wang & Guangsi Lin, 2021. "Performance Assessment Indicators for Comparing Recreational Services of Urban Parks," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-21, March.
    7. Andreia Teixeira & Ronaldo Gabriel & José Martinho & Irene Oliveira & Mário Santos & Graça Pinto & Helena Moreira, 2023. "Distance to Natural Environments, Physical Activity, Sleep, and Body Composition in Women: An Exploratory Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-20, February.
    8. Yijun Zhang & Suzanne Mavoa & Jinfeng Zhao & Deborah Raphael & Melody Smith, 2020. "The Association between Green Space and Adolescents’ Mental Well-Being: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-26, September.
    9. Stephanie L. Orstad & Kristin Szuhany & Kosuke Tamura & Lorna E. Thorpe & Melanie Jay, 2020. "Park Proximity and Use for Physical Activity among Urban Residents: Associations with Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-13, July.
    10. Enembe O. Okokon & Tarja Yli-Tuomi & Taina Siponen & Pekka Tiittanen & Anu W. Turunen & Leena Kangas & Ari Karppinen & Jaakko Kukkonen & Timo Lanki, 2021. "Heterogeneous Urban Exposures and Prevalent Hypertension in the Helsinki Capital Region, Finland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-14, January.
    11. Xue Zhang & Suhong Zhou & Rongping Lin & Lingling Su, 2020. "Relationship between Long-Term Residential Green Exposure and Individuals’ Mental Health: Moderated by Income Differences and Residential Location in Urban China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-21, December.
    12. Yinhua Tao & Jie Yang & Yanwei Chai, 2019. "The Anatomy of Health-Supportive Neighborhoods: A Multilevel Analysis of Built Environment, Perceived Disorder, Social Interaction and Mental Health in Beijing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-19, December.
    13. Zhengkai Zhang & Hanjiang Zhang & Huan Yang & Bingzhi Zhong, 2023. "Home Greenery: Alleviating Anxiety during Lockdowns with Varied Landscape Preferences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-14, October.
    14. Katharina Stahlmann & Emily Mena & Ronny Kuhnert & André Conrad & Gabriele Bolte, 2022. "Social Inequalities in the Association between Social Infrastructure and Mental Health: An Observational Cross-Sectional Analysis of Children and Adolescents in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-18, June.
    15. Zheng Xian & Tomoki Nakaya & Kun Liu & Bing Zhao & Junhua Zhang & Jiao Zhang & Yuxuan Lin & Jinguang Zhang, 2024. "The effects of neighbourhood green spaces on mental health of disadvantaged groups: a systematic review," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19, December.
    16. Cristina Ayala-Azcarraga & Daniel Diaz & Tania Fernandez & Fernando Cordova-Tapia & Luis Zambrano, 2023. "Uneven Distribution of Urban Green Spaces in Relation to Marginalization in Mexico City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-14, August.
    17. Daniel Masterson & Margarita Triguero-Mas & Sandra Marquez & Wilma Zijlema & David Martinez & Christopher Gidlow & Graham Smith & Gemma Hurst & Marta Cirach & Regina Grazuleviciene & Magdalena Van den, 2022. "Use of the Natural Outdoor Environment in Different Populations in Europe in Relation to Access: Implications for Policy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-13, February.
    18. Marcia P. Jimenez & Nicole V. DeVille & Elise G. Elliott & Jessica E. Schiff & Grete E. Wilt & Jaime E. Hart & Peter James, 2021. "Associations between Nature Exposure and Health: A Review of the Evidence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-19, April.
    19. Tadeusz Ciupa & Roman Suligowski, 2021. "Green-Blue Spaces and Population Density versus COVID-19 Cases and Deaths in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-17, June.
    20. Catalina Medina & Annel Hernández & Maria E. Hermosillo-Gallardo & Célida I. Gómez Gámez & Eugen Resendiz & Maricruz Morales & Claudia Nieto & Mildred Moreno & Simón Barquera, 2022. "Development and Validation of the Mexican Public Open Spaces Tool (MexPOS)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-11, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:17:p:9010-:d:622702. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.