Systematic Review: Neurodevelopmental Benefits of Active/Passive School Exposure to Green and/or Blue Spaces in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Today more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Children spend about 40 h a week in the school environment. Knowing the influence of school exposure to green/blue spaces could improve the children’s health, creating healthier environments and preventing exposure to legal/illegal drugs. This systematic review summarized the main results of published studies on active or passive exposure to green or blue spaces in different domains of child neurodevelopment. In August 2022, five databases were searched and twenty-eight eligible studies were included in the analysis. Cognitive and/or academic performance was the most frequently studied (15/28). Most studies evaluate passive exposure to green/blue spaces (19/28) versus active exposure (9/28). Only three studies addressed the relationship between blue space and neurodevelopment. The main results point toward mixed evidence of a protective relationship between green/blue space exposure and neurodevelopment, especially in improving cognitive/academic performance, attention restoration, behavior, and impulsivity. Renaturalizing school spaces and promoting “greener” capacities for school environmental health could improve children’s neurodevelopment. There was great heterogeneity in methodologies and adjustment for confounding factors across studies. Future research should seek a standardized approach to delivering school environmental health interventions beneficial to children’s development.

The Mar Menor Lagoon and the incidence of childhood cancer in the Region of Murcia, Spain (2000-2018): An exploratory analysis

“…On the other hand, blue spaces like the Mar Menor could potentially mitigate the effects of pollution in terrestrial areas, serving as a protective component [38]. There is growing evidence that spending time in or around water bodies or 'blue spaces' can lead to improved human health [39][40][41][42]. In particular, the sea breeze and marine environment have been shown to enhance air quality by dispersing pollutants, thereby reducing exposure for coastal populations [38].…”

Nature-based allied health: current practice, challenges and opportunities

“…Our sample comprised predominantly of psychologists (29%), social workers (25%) and occupational therapists (17%) who often work in mental health settings; hence, the bias in our sample may have led to the dominance of mental health outcomes. Although research on physical health [5,11,[13][14][15]18,20,23,38,63,64], social [8,23] and developmental outcomes [7,10] is still emerging, it shows promising growth.…”

“…There is increasing evidence that supports the health benefits of exposure to nature [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13], and engaging in nature-based activities [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. Allied health professionals (AHPs) can play an important role in improving people's access to and use of nature, by working with individual patients/clients, communities and from a broader public health perspective, including advocacy for and input into the design of public natural environments.…”

“…While there has been a shift away from healthcare settings in nature, there has been an increase in research into the benefits of exposure to nature (e.g. green [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] and blue spaces [2,10,13]), and nature-based activities to improve health and wellbeing [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. Allied health professionals are well placed to integrate NBAs -by encompassing outdoor and indoor nature-based activities which may be recommended or directly engaged in with the patient/ client, and advocacy for or the provision of improvements to natural spaces -into their practice.…”