Healthy Parks Healthy People

Healthy Parks Healthy People is all about improving mental and physical health by spending more time in parks.

Parks are a wonderful, free resource for the whole community. Whether its an urban park in your suburb, a regional Parklands like Centennial Parklands, or a national park there are many ways in which you or your family can benefit from spending more time in parks.

Research has shown that visiting a park can - among other benefits - reduce stress, boost immunity, enhance productivity, promote healing and foster psychological wellbeing.

So let's get out of the office, or away from the television and computer consoles, and get into parks for a healthy and balanced life.

Find out more and read some handy hints for getting healthy and happy in Centennial Parklands!

Background and Research

What is Healthy Parks Healthy People all about?

What does the research say?

Research from Australia and around the world has demonstrated a wide range of beneficial health outcomes from spending more time in parks.

Parks and nature are an affordable, non-elitist, highly accessible means of improving community health that may help people reach their full potential. They are a public resource yet to be fully utilised for individual and community health and wellbeing.

Did you know?

Just watching nature helps to calm and relax you Did you know that just viewing nature and natural scenes have been used as healing method in many stressful environments such as hospitals, nursing homes, remote military sites and even space stations?

In these environments particularly, as well as for people who work in windowless offices, studies show that seeing nature is important to people and is an effective means of relieving stress and improving wellbeing.

The benefits in detail

While it may seem intuitive to many people what the benefits of parks and nature are, the following is a detailed list of how contact with parks and nature can benefit you and your family.

Biological and mental wellbeing

Contact with nature provides a sense of wellbeing and positively influences immunity and cardiovascular function;
Contact with nature reduces the magnitude of the physiological response to stress and enhances the ability to cope with, and recover from, stressful episodes;
Some positive physiological effects of viewing nature include reduction of heart rate, muscle tension, blood pressure, and skin conductance;
Views of nature improve psychological health, particularly emotional and cognitive;
Natural surroundings assist cognitive functioning in children (including reducing the symptoms of attention deficit disorder);
Views of nature improve performance in attention demanding tasks and can restore concentration/attention;
Nature and parks promote healing in patients suffering from severe trauma, cancer, depression, anxiety, and other life-altering afflictions;
Views of nature reduce self-reports of illnesses, such as headaches and digestive disorders, in people who live or work in confined, indoor spaces (such as offices and prisons);
Contact with nature improves self-awareness, self-esteem, self-concept, and positively affects mood state, which have positive flow-on effects to physiological state (such as boosting immunity);
Contact with nature is effective in alleviating the symptoms of anxiety, depression, and psychosomatic illness (including irritability, restlessness, insomnia, tension, headaches, and indigestion).

Social and community wellbeing

Interacting with nature or participating in nature-based activities in one’s local neighbourhood can promote a sense of community, foster a sense of belonging or sense of place, and enhance social ties/relationships;
Contact with nature reduces the stresses associated with urban living (such as crowding, noise, pollution, etc).
Natural environments foster social capital within neighbourhoods by providing settings for groups to meet formally and informally for recreational or leisure pursuits;
Residents who have nature nearby, or who regularly pursue nature related activities have greater neighbourhood satisfaction, and have better overall health than residents who do not;
Nature in high density urban living can reduce vandalism, violence, crime rates, ease racial tension or prejudices, and result in neighbourhood and personal transformation;
Contact with nature can foster a sense of identity and ownership, and provide a sense of integration rather than isolation for newly arrived migrants.

Economic wellbeing

Contact with nature improves job satisfaction, overall health, and reduces job stress in the workforce as well as reducing number of sick days and employee absences;
Parks and natural features attract businesses;
Trees in urban streets attract consumers and tourists to business districts, and are seen to increase appeal;
Tourism is the third largest industry worldwide, with growth occurring particularly in wilderness or nature-based tourism;
Parks and nature tourism generate employment in regional areas;
Significant natural features, including parks and gardens, raise real estate values;
Contact with nature can potentially reduce the burden of disease on the current health care system. For example, for pet ownership alone preliminary estimates of savings to the health care system are between AUD$790 million to AUD$1.5 billion annually (Headey and Anderson, 1995);
Interaction with nature encourages a holistic/ecological approach to health, giving people a sense of control over their own health and wellbeing which may lead to less reliance on health care services.

Environmental wellbeing

Greater financial and in-kind support for parks will assist conservation and improvement of the natural (indigenous) values of parks;
Increased participation in ‘Friends of Parks’ and other volunteer groups may improve natural values/capital within parks;
Improved understanding of the need for natural areas may lead to green corridors and extended conservation areas;
Greater awareness of the human health and wellbeing benefits of nature may improve conservation of additional natural spaces (such as those set aside for industry, for example).

Life satisfaction

Contact with nature reduces the incidence of negative feelings such as anger, fear, anxiety, and frustration, and induces peace of mind;
Contact with nature, or having nature nearby, improves quality of life, work satisfaction, and the coping ability of residents in urban areas;
Natural environments foster a state of reflection, enabling one to gain perspective on life, and create an awareness of one’s surroundings;
Contact with wilderness can develop leadership abilities, which translate positively into other areas of life.

Spiritual / existential wellbeing

Nature provides spiritual inspiration, enabling people to gain a different or deeper perspective on life, for example by the realisation that they are part of something larger and universal;
Contact with nature can inspire feelings of peace, oneness, connectedness, and strength;
Nature is important to all people/cultures, in ‘developed’ and ‘undeveloped’ nations, for providing spiritual inspiration;
Contemplation of nature can inspire a sense of freedom, reverence, encourage humility, prompt introspection and reflection on personal values, and lead to spiritual growth or enlightenment;
Spirituality arising from contact with nature can reduce psychosis, substance abuse, and heal those suffering from violence and/or injury.

Further information

All references and information on this page are from the Healthy parks, healthy people: The health benefits of contact with nature in a park context (A review of relevant literature).

Who else is involved with Healthy Parks Healthy People?

HPHP for Individuals

Your park, your health

Your free outdoor gym

A park is your free, outdoor gym More and more Australians are heading to indoor gyms as part of their healthy lifestyle activities.

However, did you know by just visiting a park at least once a week, you can gain many of the benefits of a gym – and it’s free!

Just consider the following:

Research both from Australia and internationally confirms that contact with parks and nature can result in a range of health and wellbeing benefits.

These include:

reducing heart rate, muscle tension and blood pressure
reduced illnesses, such as headaches and digestive disorders, in people who live or work in confined, indoor spaces (such as offices)
providing a sense of wellbeing and positively influencing immunity and cardiovascular function
reducing the incidence of negative feelings such as anger, fear, anxiety and frustration, and inducing peace of mind
alleviating the symptoms of anxiety, depression and psychosomatic illness
improving quality of life, work satisfaction and the coping ability of residents in urban areas.

So, what can Centennial Parklands offer? Well...

Instead of a treadmill - try walking or jogging around Grand Drive, Centennial Park. All your cardiovascular needs in a pleasant setting!
Instead of an exercise bike - try the real thing. If you don't own own, hire one from our cycle hire provider.
Want a cardiovascular workout? Our range of spaces, slopes and pathways will give you all the challenge you need.

Have your own gym equipment, bring it to the Parklands and use our wide open spaces. Exercising in the fresh air is always the best opportunity (of course, as a responsible and caring visitor, you will be taking care not to damage or cause undue wear and tear on our park furniture!).

So many people visit the Parklands every day of the year to exercise.

If you do prefer a gym, we also have one of those within the Parklands. Total Body Conditioning is located conveniently in the Entertainment Quarter.

So head to your nearest park to complement your healthy lifestyle activities and feel the benefits.

Organised team sports

Active ideas on your own or with a partner

HPHP for Families and Groups

Healthy families in the park

Keep a football in the car, just in case the chance to play around arises What is the secret to healthy kids?

Centennial Parklands could provide the key to healthier, happier kids! The fact is that getting active, in combination with healthy eating, is a great way for children to become really healthy and stay that way. And it goes much further than managing their weight – it gives kids crucial physical and social confidence.

How much activity?

For 5 to 12 year olds: at least 60 minutes a day (and up to several hours), combining moderate and vigorous activity
12 to 18 year olds: at least 60 minutes a day, including 20 minutes or more of vigorous activity three to four times a week

Moderate activity causes an increase in heart rate and breathing; it includes active play in the backyard, skateboarding or a leisurely bike ride. Vigorous activity makes kids ‘huff and puff’; it includes soccer, netball, basketball, ballet, running, swimming laps or more intense bike-riding.

How to motivate kids

Saying 'Get up and do something!' to a child often ends up achieving the opposite. But if you take a less direct approach the results can be amazing. Lead by example and set up the conditions in which to be active.

Activity ideas

'I'm bored' would have to be the most annoying words in the English language. If you hear them, you should always have an answer. The trick is to start small.

Being active as a family

If you'd like your child to be healthy, start by looking at yourself and your family. Being active as a family allows you to be good role model and it's a chance to have fun together.

Coaching

Parents often take responsibility for a team or help out in some way. If you want to find out what sporting clubs play in Centennial Parklands and how you can be involved, visit our Sports in the Parklands page for club contact details.

Further information

Visit: www.healthykids.nsw.gov.au. This great website is designed to equip parents and carers with accurate and evidenced based information about healthy eating, physical activity and healthy weight.

Practical activity ideas for the family