Walking in a winter wonderland brings psychological benefits, study finds

In their paper, the team wrote: “Overall, this finding is consistent with previous work showing that time spent on an allotment, in a designed greenspace, at the beach, and in botanic gardens significantly elevated state body appreciation scores in populations from diverse national settings.”

Alongside being the first study to demonstrate that white, snowy landscapes can be as beneficial as other natural environments, the research is the first to show that the rewards of nature can be reaped in small groups, rather than just individually.

The team added: “It is possible to explain these findings by drawing on attention restoration theory, which suggests that natural environments have the capacity to restore depleted psychological resources.

“More specifically, it has been suggested that natural environments may offer opportunities to promote positive body image by restricting negative appearance-related thoughts and supporting speedier recovery from threats to body image, thus turning negative body image states into positive ones.”

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Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1707242/walking-winter-wonderland-psychological-benefits-body-appreciation