Do Mental Health Changes in Nature Co-occur with Changes in Heartrate Variability and Executive Functioning? A Systematic Review.

IF 7.4 2区 医学 Q1 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH Current Environmental Health Reports Pub Date : 2023-09-01 Epub Date: 2023-07-29 DOI:10.1007/s40572-023-00407-6
Sara LoTemplio, Joanna E Bettmann, Emily Scott, Ellison Blumenthal
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Abstract

Purpose of review: Given the global burden of mental health issues, new solutions are needed to promote mental health. Nature exposure represents a promising option to promote mental health, but the mechanisms are poorly understood. Recent frameworks have argued that changes in mental health in nature are caused by activity changes in the vagus nerve, which connects the heart and the brain, and that these changes also improve executive functioning (EF) abilities. This suggests that changes in mental health symptomology in nature should be accompanied by changes in vagus nerve activity, as well as changes in executive functioning. Yet, little work has systematically examined co-variation of these outcomes in empirical studies. The present manuscript systematically examines whether changes in mental health in nature are accompanied by changes in vagus nerve activity (approximated by heartrate variability) and changes in executive functioning.

Recent findings: There is compelling evidence that spending time in nature can increase heartrate variability, improve mental health, and improve executive functioning. However, despite strong theoretical claims that these three outcomes should be linked after spending time in nature settings, few studies directly examine such co-occurrence. The study systematically examines whether studies that considered both mental health and executive functioning (n = 6) showed co-occurring effects in response to nature exposure. Similarly, the study also considers if studies examining mental health and heartrate variability (n = 6) showed similarly directional effects following nature exposure. This systematic review concludes with discussion about the limited number of studies (n =1) that include all three measures. We find mixed results of co-occurrence with these variables, suggesting that the relationship between these three constructs in nature may be more nuanced than current theory suggests. Perhaps more importantly, our results demonstrate that there is very little existing work linking changes in mental health to changes in EF and vagal tone. We conclude with justification for why it may be beneficial for researchers to include all three metrics as well as guidance on how to do so.

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自然中的心理健康变化与心率变异性和执行功能的变化同时发生吗?系统回顾。
审查目的:鉴于全球心理健康问题的负担,需要新的解决方案来促进心理健康。自然暴露是促进心理健康的一个很有前途的选择,但其机制尚不清楚。最近的框架认为,自然界中心理健康的变化是由连接心脏和大脑的迷走神经的活动变化引起的,这些变化也会提高执行功能(EF)能力。这表明,自然界中心理健康症状的变化应该伴随着迷走神经活动的变化,以及执行功能的变化。然而,很少有工作在实证研究中系统地研究这些结果的共同变化。本手稿系统地研究了自然界中心理健康的变化是否伴随着迷走神经活动的变化(近似于心率变异性)和执行功能的变化。最近的发现:有令人信服的证据表明,在大自然中度过一段时间可以增加心率变异性,改善心理健康,改善执行功能。然而,尽管有强有力的理论主张,在自然环境中度过一段时间后,这三种结果应该联系在一起,但很少有研究直接研究这种共现现象。这项研究系统地考察了同时考虑心理健康和执行功能的研究(n=6)是否显示出对自然暴露的共同影响。同样,该研究还考虑了检查心理健康和心率变异性(n=6)的研究是否在自然暴露后显示出类似的方向性影响。这篇系统综述的结尾是对有限数量的研究(n=1)的讨论,这些研究包括所有三项指标。我们发现与这些变量共存的结果喜忧参半,这表明这三种结构在自然界中的关系可能比目前的理论所表明的更为微妙。也许更重要的是,我们的研究结果表明,目前很少有研究将心理健康的变化与EF和迷走神经张力的变化联系起来。最后,我们解释了为什么将这三个指标都包括在内对研究人员来说可能是有益的,以及如何做到这一点的指导。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
13.60
自引率
1.30%
发文量
47
期刊介绍: Current Environmental Health Reports provides up-to-date expert reviews in environmental health. The goal is to evaluate and synthesize original research in all disciplines relevant for environmental health sciences, including basic research, clinical research, epidemiology, and environmental policy.
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