RICHMOND, Va. -- A new study conducted in Richmond shows going for a walk can greatly impact your physical health, but where you choose to take that walk can also make a difference in your mental health.
Dr. Jeremy Hoffman, who serves as the David and Jane Cohn Scientist at the Science Museum of Virginia, helped lead the study, which found going for a walk in a quiet, green space has better mental health and physiological outcomes than going for a walk in a busy, gray or loud environment.
About 50 participants walked two routes during the summer months, one starting at the Science Museum down Broad Street to Meadow Street and back, and then the second route was from the Science Museum down Davis Street down to the Branch Museum of Architecture and Design and back.
Hoffman notes walking near the Branch Museum in the Fan was less stressful and better for participant’s mental health than walking along Broad Street.
"The thermal experience of those two environments are very different," explained Hoffman. "When you think about Broad Street, it's very wide street, no trees, very little shade, so we know that those places are going to be warmer. At the same time, we know that the small parklet in the back of the Branch Architecture Museum has significant shade, so it's much cooler there."
While 70% to 80% of Richmonders live within a 10-minute walk of a green space according to Hoffman, he said we need to take into account the quality of that walk in order to get to the green space, and that can be very different depending on where you live in the city.
"Some places in the city don't have entire sidewalk networks in order to get between A and B safely," he explained.
The study also explained only about one-third of Richmonders get the recommended amount of moderate intensity activity per week recommended by the CDC, and the city also has elevated levels of mental health issues.
"When we talk about how our city is going to change over the next few decades, in line with the Richmond 300 Comprehensive Master Plan, we need to think more deeply about what those changes mean to our mental health and the health and well being of the residents," said Hoffman. "And if we center that kind of design, the sorts of things that we found in this study would suggest that we need calmer, quieter, slower speed streets, limited traffic and more space for people to be able to have a contemplative kind of walk in their own backyard."
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