Point
It has been found that people who live with water views have bettermental health.
Studies show that the effect is better than looking at the naturalgreen landscape through the window.
The more you look at the water landscape, the lower the level ofpsychological distress in particular.
Tips for practicing this technique
If you have a view of the water, such as the ocean or a river, fromyour home, it's a good idea to increase the frequency and time youspend looking at it.
Also, if you can't see the view of the water from your house, you canhang a picture of a water view.If it's even more difficult to do so,you can turn your smartphone or PC wallpaper into a photo of a waterview.
If possible, it is more effective to look at the scenery of water innature instead of artificial scenery of water.
Also, mental health can be improved not only by a view of the water,but also by a view of the greenery.The recommended way to use it is tolook at the view of green usually, and to look at the view of thewater when you are feeling depressed.That's because the mostnoticeable effect of looking at the water landscape is to reducemental distress.
In addition, there are actually more reports on the mental healthbenefits of seeing a green landscape.Therefore, it is highly possiblethat you can get an effect by looking at the green scenery.As a meansof getting a green view, for example, just glancing at a lawn rooftopfor 40 seconds will do the trick.We know that this alone can providetremendous psychological benefits.It's a very easy method, so pleasegive it a try.
Introduction of the research
| Research Institute | University of Canterbury et al., |
|---|---|
| Publication Medium | Health & Place |
| Year the study was published | 2016 |
| Quote Source | Nutsford et al., 2016 |
Summary of the research
The study was conducted in Wellington, New Zealand.Wellington issurrounded by the Pacific Ocean to the south and the Tasman Sea to thenorth.In other words, it's an environment where the water views areclose by.The researchers took into account a variety of factors, including thesubjects' gender, age, and wealth, but they still found a link betweenseeing water and a good mental state.
Also, the same effect was not seen by looking at green.But this may bebecause the blue space was all natural, while the green spacecontained artificial green areas such as playgrounds.According to theresearchers, experimenting in the virgin forest may lead to anotherdiscovery in the green landscape.
My view on this research
Many studies have reported the improvement of mental health by viewinggreen scenery.However, the association between a blue view, i.e., aview of water, and mental well-being has been poorly reported.This iswhy the results of this study are so valuable.
By the way, color may be a factor in the effect that water views haveon you.Color affects people's psychology.For example, red is said tostimulate the sympathetic nerves and therefore has an arousing effect,such as raising the pulse and blood pressure.In addition, yellow issaid to lead to brain activation, so it is expected to improveconcentration.And blue has a calming effect.In other words, the blue color brings calmness to the emotional andphysical excitement, making it easier to create a mentally stablestate.