A recent study is indicating a visit to your local park may help lower your blood pressure and improve your mental health.
High blood pressure affects roughly 30% of adults in the United States and numbers have been on the rise for decades and more focus is going toward reducing high blood pressure. High blood pressure is a result of a variety of factors including age, eating,exercise habits, race, and genetics.
Keeping tabs on your blood pressure and proactively trying to maintain a healthy level is key to reducing risk of high blood pressure and heart disease and adding a trip to your park may become more routine now.
Study Indicates Visiting a Park May Help Prevent High Blood Pressure
A recent study performed by The University of Queensland (UQ) and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED) showed spending a minimum of 30 minutes per week at a park helped to decrease the development of stress, heart disease, depression, and heart disease.
Dr. Danielle Shanahan, a researcher at UQ CEED, stated, “If everyone visited their local parks for half an hour each week there would be seven percent fewer cases of depression and nine percent fewer cases of high blood pressure.”
Those percentages may appear low, but Australia spends about $A12.6 billion solely on depression costs. Therefore, any decrease will help lower spending nationally and personally.
This study also helped to pinpoint exactly how much time is required outdoors in order to see results. Going for a hike, a walk, or simply visiting a park may help prevent high blood pressure.
Surprisingly, only about 60% of Brisbane, Australia residents visited an urban park weekly. Only 40% of people were reaping the benefits of visiting a park weekly.
If you have children or a dog, playing with them at the park is beneficial to both parties. Everyone will enjoy the exercise and also burn off any stress or excess energy. It also creates a bonding opportunity, as playing and laughing together unites people.
As a weekly goal, 30 minutes is not much at all when compared to how much time is spent watching tv or social media. Those 30 minutes could potentially prevent any greater health issues such as heart disease or stroke.
Try to schedule in some time at a nearby park at least once a week. Visiting even more frequently will not be detrimental either.