Walking Green: Developing an Evidence-base for Nature Prescriptions
| Status: | Enrolling by invitation |
|---|---|
| Healthy: | No |
| Age Range: | 35 - 59 |
| Updated: | 5/3/2018 |
| Start Date: | July 14, 2017 |
| End Date: | July 1, 2018 |
The investigators hypothesize that walking on a nature trail will lead to greater reductions
in stress and greater improvements in the capacity to direct attention as compared to walking
on a suburban sidewalk.
The effects of walking in these different locations will be measured using physiological and
psychological outcomes. The study design is a randomized with-in person cross-over trial.
Subjects will take six 50-minute walks, one walk per week for six weeks. Three walks will
occur in the urban setting and three in the nature setting. The order of the conditions will
be randomly assigned to each subject, so that half of the subjects will complete the urban
walks first and half the subjects will complete the nature walks first. There will be a
two-week washout period between the two sets of walks. Day of the week will be fixed within
person, and walks will occur during the mild weather months. In the case of inclement
weather, the weekly walk will be skipped and an additional week will be added to the
schedule. Limiting the frequency to one walk per week maximizes feasibility of the protocol
and minimizes training effects, with any training effects over time being handled primarily
by randomization (condition order is balanced), but also in the statistical analysis.
in stress and greater improvements in the capacity to direct attention as compared to walking
on a suburban sidewalk.
The effects of walking in these different locations will be measured using physiological and
psychological outcomes. The study design is a randomized with-in person cross-over trial.
Subjects will take six 50-minute walks, one walk per week for six weeks. Three walks will
occur in the urban setting and three in the nature setting. The order of the conditions will
be randomly assigned to each subject, so that half of the subjects will complete the urban
walks first and half the subjects will complete the nature walks first. There will be a
two-week washout period between the two sets of walks. Day of the week will be fixed within
person, and walks will occur during the mild weather months. In the case of inclement
weather, the weekly walk will be skipped and an additional week will be added to the
schedule. Limiting the frequency to one walk per week maximizes feasibility of the protocol
and minimizes training effects, with any training effects over time being handled primarily
by randomization (condition order is balanced), but also in the statistical analysis.
Suburban walks will be mapped out in clean, safe streets with sidewalks within 3 miles of the
Arboretum, in Chaska, Minnesota. A loop covering approximately 1.25 miles will be mapped. At
a usual walking speed of 20 minutes per mile, a subject will complete ~ 2 loops. Each walk
will be timed so that walking speed can be included in the statistical analysis as an
important covariate.
Nature Walks will take place at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, which is
part of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences at the University of
Minnesota. The Arboretum features more than 1,215 acres of natural landscapes with over 12
miles of trails. Subjects in this study will take their nature walks on the Green Heron Pond
Trail and adjacent trails that can be connected to create a walking loop of ~1.25 miles, or
an out-and-back course, matching the distance of the suburban walk. Heron Pond and its
adjacent marsh and bog represent three naturally occurring ecosystems in Minnesota that are
part of the state's geologic and landscape heritage. The bog trail passes through the most
diverse ecotypes of any Arboretum hike. Oak woods, maple woods and the mosaic of intermingled
wetlands along the boardwalk offer rich rewards for birders, school groups and families.
The primary approach to the statistical analysis will be a repeated measures multivariable
linear regression model. The outcomes will be the psychological and physiological measures of
stress. The primary independent variable of interest is condition (suburban v. nature). The
interaction of condition and time (week of the study) provides a formal test of intervention
effects (differences between the urban and nature walks). That is, over the time course of
the interventions, are there significant differences in the outcomes between the urban and
nature walks? Covariates to be evaluated in the models as possible confounders include the
order of the conditions (urban first v. nature first), age, gender, body mass index, and
overall habitual physical activity. On an exploratory basis, the investigators will test
whether these covariates also serve as modifiers of the intervention effect.
Arboretum, in Chaska, Minnesota. A loop covering approximately 1.25 miles will be mapped. At
a usual walking speed of 20 minutes per mile, a subject will complete ~ 2 loops. Each walk
will be timed so that walking speed can be included in the statistical analysis as an
important covariate.
Nature Walks will take place at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, which is
part of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences at the University of
Minnesota. The Arboretum features more than 1,215 acres of natural landscapes with over 12
miles of trails. Subjects in this study will take their nature walks on the Green Heron Pond
Trail and adjacent trails that can be connected to create a walking loop of ~1.25 miles, or
an out-and-back course, matching the distance of the suburban walk. Heron Pond and its
adjacent marsh and bog represent three naturally occurring ecosystems in Minnesota that are
part of the state's geologic and landscape heritage. The bog trail passes through the most
diverse ecotypes of any Arboretum hike. Oak woods, maple woods and the mosaic of intermingled
wetlands along the boardwalk offer rich rewards for birders, school groups and families.
The primary approach to the statistical analysis will be a repeated measures multivariable
linear regression model. The outcomes will be the psychological and physiological measures of
stress. The primary independent variable of interest is condition (suburban v. nature). The
interaction of condition and time (week of the study) provides a formal test of intervention
effects (differences between the urban and nature walks). That is, over the time course of
the interventions, are there significant differences in the outcomes between the urban and
nature walks? Covariates to be evaluated in the models as possible confounders include the
order of the conditions (urban first v. nature first), age, gender, body mass index, and
overall habitual physical activity. On an exploratory basis, the investigators will test
whether these covariates also serve as modifiers of the intervention effect.
Inclusion Criteria:
- Age 35 to 59
- No contraindications to physical activity
- No major chronic diseases or specific medications that would contraindicate exercise
or potentially blunt heart rate variation during exercise
Exclusion Criteria:
- Cardiovascular disease medication
- Arthritis
- Steroids
- Certain blood pressure medications
- Diabetes
- Cancer
- Self-reported depression or anxiety / taking medication for depression or anxiety,
- Outside age range
- Inability to follow schedule including travel to arboretum
- Exceeding physical activity recommendations (250 minutes per week)
- Contraindications to walking
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