How can a park help you as a student or young person?
David McCann Thu 15 Oct 2020
By Polly Vance
With the growth of our cities and urban population, it is important to understand the benefits that can come from going to local parks and green space. Although there is a variety of positive impacts which can come from using parks, some of are more beneficial to students and the younger population.
Going to parks in an urban area can provide physical and mental benefits to a person. This can come from using the space actively or passively, exercising or just sitting on a bench and taking in nature. Since the lockdown, we have been able to appreciate nature more, especially when we can’t have access to it. If a student or young person is able to access parks between classes, it has been shown in a variety of studies that it can improve cognitive ability and information retention. This can overall help their studies and homework, helping them through school.
It is well known that going to the park can make a significant your stress levels. Nature gives a calming affect to a person, helping with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Students can experience high stress levels while at university, so going to the park regularly can help control this. Also, if a young person or student uses parks between there classes it improves their attention capacity for class afterwards.
Additionally, when you visit parks regularly, there is evidence that this boosts mood.
This means if you go to a park when you are upset or worried, it could help improve your mood and make you happier.
Lastly, students and young people are considered to have a poorer quality of life, according to several studies often not eating well or doing enough exercise. This is likely down to them living away from home for the first time . It has been shown that through regular access to parks and green space a person is more likely to make better life decisions regarding their health. This should mean that if a young person or student regularly goes to a park, they would feel like making better health decisions through eating better and exercising because they’re more motivated.
Overall, if you feel low or stressed, want to improve your mental health doing something as simple as going to the park can help. Parks and green space are considered to be the lungs of a city but they can be more than just environmentally beneficial. Parks help everyone to both feel better mentally and facilitate people being physically active.