NCT06001697

Nature and Health: How Does Lifestyle and Environment Affect Health and Wellness

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 134 (actual)
• Sponsor: Stanford University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 13 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to examine if and how implementing nature prescriptions can increase time in nature and improve health to yield an actionable understanding of the nature-health connection. It aims to explore how public green spaces can be better used to improve individual and community health. Finally, this study aims to advance science by conducting a randomized controlled trial to improve understanding of the linkages between time in nature and human health.

Detailed description

The investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial in which physicians prescribe time in nature as an intervention to the study group. In total a goal of 240 patients will be recruited, including both children (13+) and adults. 120 of them will be assigned to the study group and 120 to the assigned to the control group. All study participants will be provided with a Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled wearable device (Garmin Vivosmart 5) that is able to measure their activity levels, location, and additional health-related metrics, such as heart rate. All participants will be asked to provide information about their health and well-being through survey instruments and electronic health records. Both groups (intervention and control) will receive regular health advice targeting lifestyle factors associated with risk of chronic diseases. The treatment group will additionally receive a park prescription with information about the benefits of spending time in nature. They will also received a specified target amount of time to spend in nature, along with frequency of visits and recommended locations (e.g., specific parks), and information about parks and programming in the study area. Participants will also be asked to answer brief questions regarding their mental and physical health, as well as their physical excercise patterns every 72-hours through a research-grade smartphone app called Urban Mind over the course of this study. At baseline and end of study at 6-months the participants will also answer questionnaires that will assess their mental and physical health, as well as lifestyle factors such as physical activity, sleep, stress and exposure to nature. These questionnaires will be administered through the REDCap survey system.

Conditions

• Chronic Disease
• Risk Reduction
• Mental Health Wellness 1
• Physical Inactivity
• Sleep
• Depression
• Anxiety

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Park prescription	The park prescription given by the patients care-provider includes information about the health benefits of spending time in nature and detailed information about the parks in the neighboring area. As well as access to a web-based platform called ParkRx which includes information and details about events in the parks in the study area. Together with information about the frequency and duration of visits to the parks.
BEHAVIORAL	Regular health advice	Regular health advice relating to lifestyle factors that can decrease the risk of chronic disease and/or reducing the burden of an existing chronic disease. Areas included are diet, physical activity, sleep, stress and medications.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-12-18
• Primary completion: 2025-04-23
• Completion: 2025-04-23
• First posted: 2023-08-21
• Last updated: 2025-05-06

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States