Associations between green/blue spaces and mental health across 18 countries.

Living near, recreating in, and feeling psychologically connected to, the natural world are all associated with better mental health, but many exposure-related questions remain. Using data from an 18-country survey (n = 16,307) we explored associations between multiple measures of mental health (positive well-being, mental distress, depression/anxiety medication use) and: (a) exposures (residential/recreational visits) to different natural settings (green/inland-blue/coastal-blue spaces); and (b) nature connectedness, across season and country. People who lived in greener/coastal neighbourhoods reported higher positive well-being, but this association largely disappeared when recreational visits were controlled for. Frequency of recreational visits to green, inland-blue, and coastal-blue spaces in the last 4 weeks were all positively associated with positive well-being and negatively associated with mental distress. Associations with green space visits were relatively consistent across seasons and countries but associations with blue space visits showed greater heterogeneity. Nature connectedness was also positively associated with positive well-being and negatively associated with mental distress and was, along with green space visits, associated with a lower likelihood of using medication for depression. By contrast inland-blue space visits were associated with a greater likelihood of using anxiety medication. Results highlight the benefits of multi-exposure, multi-response, multi-country studies in exploring complexity in nature-health associations.

Relaciones ocultas a fines del siglo XVIII: la specimen florae americae meridionalis (1780) del Real Jardim Botânico da ajuda y los diseños científicos de la Real Expedición Botánica al virreinato peruano / Hidden relationships in late eighteen century: the specimen florae americae meridionalis (1780) of the Real Jardim Botânico da Ajuda and the scientific drawings of the Royal Botanical expedition to the Peru viceroyalty

Este artículo muestra que en las décadas finales del siglo XVIII, más allá de las relaciones diplomáticas y los conflictos militares entre Portugal y España, existieron importantes conexiones científicas, que han sido poco estudiadas. Teniendo como punto de partida la casi desconocida Specimen Florae Americae Meridionalis (1780), una obra botánica compuesta de cuatro volúmenes, producida en el Real Museu da Ajuda (Lisboa), exploraremos el interés que suscitó en los círculos de estudiosos y aficionados a la botánica en Lisboa la llegada de más de doscientos dibujos de plantas procedentes de la Real Expedición Botánica al Virreinato del Perú (1777-1788). Considerando las personalidades portuguesas, españolas e inglesas que estuvieron implicadas en la presencia de estos diseños en Portugal, recuperaremos algunas de las prácticas que posibilitaban en este período la circulación de conocimientos científicos y el adelanto de la botánica. En este sentido, este estudio pretende realizar una aportación novedosa a la Historia de la Botánica en Portugal y España y apuntar caminos para futuras investigaciones (AU)

This paper shows that in the final decades of the eighteenth century, beyond the diplomatic and military conflicts between Portugal and Spain, there were important scientific connections, which have been little studied. Having as a starting point the almost unknown Specimen Florae Americae Meridionalis (1780), a four volumes botanical work produced in Real Museu da Ajuda (Lisbon), we will explore the interest aroused in the circles of scholars and amateur botanists the arrival in Lisbon of over two hundred drawings of plants from the Royal Botanical Expedition to the Viceroyalty of Peru (1777-1788). Considering the Portuguese, Spanish and English personalities who were involved in the presence of these drawings in Portugal we will recover some of the practices that made possible in this period the circulation of scientific knowledge and the advancement of botany. In this sense, this study aims to make a novel contribution to the History of Botany in Portugal and Spain, and point paths for future research (AU)