Mentally fatigued? Take a walk in the park!

Many of us reach for a cup of coffee when we start to get distracted and worn out by the end of the day. But researchers in Scotland have found that mental fatigue (being "easily distracted, forgetful and mentally flighty") can be alleviated with just a simple walk through a park.

Frankly, I'm not surprised. Over the years, researchers around the world have amassed a huge body of evidence regarding the health benefits of green spaces. Surgical patients with a view of a green field recovered faster than patients with a view of a brick wall. Children who took a short walk through a park did better on a subsequent test than children who took a short walk through a residential neighborhood or an urban area. 

There are a lot of theories about why this might be so, but they are all somewhat tentative. When you are physically in a green space, your attention is not being overwhelmed with the huge volume of information that a city street provides. Instead of dodging cars and pedestrians and gum (or worse) on the sidewalk, your mind is free to relax and recuperate. There may also be some benefit from the increased oxygen and phytochemicals that healthy trees and plants produce, although certainly these benefits are probably slight compared to the urban and indoor pollution we inhale the rest of the day.

It may simply be that our brains are wired for the savannah, with a strong preference for wide open swaths of grass (the better to see predators and prey) and trees (for a sense of security).

Given that 80 percent of Americans now live in cities, here's hoping this research will also help push forward public policies that build and maintain green spaces inside our urban centers. It's not just set decoration - trees and grass actually improve our lives in a very direct, measurable way.

Image courtesy Flickr/UGArdener