The power of blue spaces: time spent near a lake, beach or river improves your physical and mental well-being
- Many people may be thinking about visiting green spaces when the pandemic subsides, but what about blue spaces?
- Holidays by the water, at lakes, on beaches or beside rivers, have been shown to improve mood and well-being. Researchers are not yet sure why
Many people around the world have spent much of 2020 trapped at home but are now beginning to contemplate post-coronavirus trips, and are perhaps mindful of the importance attached to spending time outside, in green spaces.
Less has been said about the restorative effects of outdoor spaces that are blue. Nevertheless, researchers at BlueHealth, a research consortium funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, have discovered that proximity to water – be it in the form of oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, swimming pools or even fountains – can significantly boost physical and mental well-being.
Over the past four years, the BlueHealth team – which includes psychologists, epidemiologists, landscape architects and public health experts, among others – studied the effects of aquatic environments on human health.
The team surveyed more than 18,000 people in 18 countries and territories, and collated a wealth of information about the blue spaces they frequent: how long do they spend in them; what do they do there; and how do such visits make them feel.
Nine hundred and eighty four people in Hong Kong completed the survey, around a quarter of them in the youngest age bracket: 18 to 29. Of the Hongkongers surveyed, 91 per cent had visited a blue space in the four weeks before responding (above the average of 87 per cent for all 18,000 respondents).
