A natural solution to improving the quality and quantity of physical activity.

Despite the well-documented mental and physical health benefits of regular physical activity (PA), millions of people in the UK fail to meet the World Health Organisation's recommended levels (Bull et al., 2020; GOV.UK, 2022). This chronic inactivity costs the NHS £455 million per year (Public Health England, 2016). Significant inequalities exist in engagement with PA across different age groups, sexes, geographical areas and income groups (Haskell, Blair and Hill, 2009), further emphasising the need for research into novel strategies to boost PA participation.
A promising solution may lie in nature, which has the potential to promote engagement with PA and enhance the quality of PA undertaken. Public health research has identified stress and fatigue as major barriers to engagement in PA (Stults-Kolehmainen and Sinha, 2014; Bláfoss et al., 2019), while a positive psychological state predicts increased engagement with PA (Aurora, Disabato and Coifman, 2022). Experimental work reporting reduced stress and fatigue, and improved mood, following exposure to natural environments (Frumkin et al., 2017) highlights the potential of nature-based PA to promote sustained engagement with PA. Nature exposure may also enhance the quality of PA undertaken. My Masters research identified, for the first time, nature-induced improvements in physical performance. This observation has significant implications for improving the public's ability to engage in moderate-to-vigorous PA, which has greater health benefits than low-intensity PA (Nayor et al., 2021).
Aims and Objectives
This research seeks to explore the potential use of nature to improve access to the health benefits associated with PA.
Methods
Phase 1 will be a systematic review of current knowledge of the effect of nature exposure on PA engagement, performance and health.
Phase 2 will involve experimental work and primary data collection to co-create and assess the effectiveness of a nature-based intervention on engagement with and performance of PA, compared to urban environments. This work will be performed in collaboration with multiple stakeholders. This data collection phase aims to answer the question of whether nature exposure a) increases engagement with PA; b) increases exercise performance and c) increases holistic health.
It is currently anticipated that experimental assessment of the intervention will involve a counterbalanced crossover randomised controlled trial. Participants will be randomly assigned to complete the exercise protocol in either an urban or forest environment, before returning four weeks later to repeat the protocol in the other environment. Engagement with PA will be measured using the Exercise Intention Scale (Huang and Wu, 2021) and the PA Enjoyment Scale (Kendzierski and DeCarlo, 1991) PA performance will be measured through consideration of both cardiovascular and muscular function. Additionally, measures of physiological stress and psychological state will be taken.
At present, nature exposure represents a promising public health intervention to enhance population access to the health benefits associated with PA. However, there is currently insufficient evidence to inform its application. This project will generate the knowledge required to develop effective strategies to improve public health through exercise in natural environments. I also hope that by understanding nature's role in human health, society will better value natural environments and, ultimately, undertake more concerted efforts to conserve and regenerate the natural world.