A British study recent explains that walking in an urban or rural setting would not have the same effects. This may seem paradoxical, but the pace of walking is faster in rural areas. This would be due to a calming of our mind thanks to this environment.
In 2019, we explained how spending at least two hours a week in nature would be beneficial. Based on data from 20,000 people, British researchers had indeed concluded that people who spend at least two hours a week in nature would be in better health physical and psychological, compared to those who rarely frequent this type of environment.
A new study, also British, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science on January 6, 2021 seems to point in the same direction. Researchers at the University of Bristol conducted two experiments involving a total of 75 volunteers . It was a question of placing them in specific situations and measuring their walking speed as well as their reaction time.
The first experiment focused on participants' gait as well as their cognitive load. A dozen cameras filmed their movements in a room 15 meters long. On the wall in front of them, the researchers projected the image of a rural or urban landscape . After the walking session, each volunteer had to answer a questionnaire to evaluate the feelings that this little "walk" gave them. However, the participants declared having experienced more discomfort with the urban landscape. In addition, their walking pace was slower than when faced with the image of a rural landscape.
In the second experiment, the scientists this time sought to analyze the types of cognitive processes at work. Participants then had to distinguish various simple shapes on a computer, while facing the same images of rural or urban landscapes. The researchers analyzed the reaction time of each patient and made a discovery. By facing the cityscape image, the volunteers took more time to differentiate the shapes. According to the study, this can be explained quite easily. Humans simply have more difficulty concentrating within an urban environment. Indeed, the latter requires more attention.
The researchers admitted, however, that their study is not enough to draw firm and definitive conclusions. To achieve this, it would be necessary to conduct other research on larger samples and ideally, place the volunteers in real conditions.
