The DOI matches its Crossref record; 78 of the 78 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
How might contact with nature promote human health? Promising mechanisms and a possible central pathway
Open accessAbstract
How might contact with nature promote human health? Myriad studies have linked the two; at this time the task of identifying the mechanisms underlying this link is paramount. This article offers: (1) a compilation of plausible pathways between nature and health; (2) criteria for identifying a possible central pathway; and (3) one promising candidate for a central pathway. The 21 pathways identified here include environmental factors, physiological and psychological states, and behaviors or conditions, each of which has been empirically tied to nature and has implications for specific physical and mental health outcomes. While each is likely to contribute to nature's impacts on health to some degree and under some circumstances, this paper explores the possibility of a central pathway by proposing criteria for identifying such a pathway and illustrating their use. A particular pathway is more likely to be central if it can account for the size of nature's impacts on health, account for nature's specific health outcomes, and subsume other pathways. By these criteria, enhanced immune functioning emerges as one promising candidate for a central pathway between nature and health. There may be others.
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Cites
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Cited by
Exploring pathways linking greenspace to health: theoretical and methodological guidance
Markevych, I., Schoierer, J., Hartig, T., Chudnovsky, A., Hystad, P., Dzhambov, A. M., de Vries, S., Triguero-Mas, M., Brauer, M., Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J., et al. (2017) · Environmental Research · doi:10.1016/j.envres.2017.06.028 · Cited by 2,543
Nature and mental health: An ecosystem service perspective
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Self-citationNature Contact and Human Health: A Research Agenda
Frumkin, H., Bratman, G. N., Breslow, S. J., Cochran, B., Kahn Jr, P. H., Lawler, J. J., Levin, P. S., Tandon, P. S., Varanasi, U., Wolf, K. L., et al. (2017) · Environmental Health Perspectives · doi:10.1289/ehp1663 · Cited by 1,237
“In a recent review, Kuo (Kuo 2015) argued that improved immune function accounts for many of the health benefits of nature, based on meeting three criteria: accounting for the magnitude of observed health benefits; accounting for the specific health outcomes observed; and subsuming other possible pathways.”
BackgroundInfluentialThe Relationship between Social Cohesion and Urban Green Space: An Avenue for Health Promotion
Jennings, V., & Bamkole, O. (2019) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph16030452 · Cited by 1,028
KANALEY, J. A., COLBERG, S. R., CORCORAN, M. H., MALIN, S. K., RODRIGUEZ, N. R., CRESPO, C. J., KIRWAN, J. P., & ZIERATH, J. R. (2022) · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · doi:10.1249/mss.0000000000002800 · Cited by 931
Metadata
- Authors
- Kuo, M.
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2015-08-25
- Volume
- 6
- Pages
- 1093-1093
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1755735914
- Cited by
- 766
- References
- 78
- FWCI
- 16.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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