Wednesday, April 04, 2007

A New Vitamin? Vitamin G?

It's not exactly a vitamin in the sense that we know and love vitamins, but researchers are calling it Vitamin G. What does G stand for? Green space and fresh air.

Professor Peter Groenewegen was at the University of St Andrews recently to showcase his pioneering research on the impact of green space, as reported by alternativemedicine.com

Groenewegen, of the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research, believes there is already enough evidence to "prescribe" spells in a natural environment as part of a rehabilitation program.

From the abstract, the researcher says --
Previous (experimental) research in environmental psychology has shown that a natural environment has a positive effect on well-being through restoration of stress and attentional fatigue. Descriptive epidemiological research has shown a positive relationship between the amount of green space in the living environment and physical and mental health and longevity.

So there you have it... get outside!!