The Ashokan Watershed Stream Management Program (AWSMP) has released a new YouTube video describing the health benefits of spending time in nature, specifically near water or “blue spaces.”
The video is a recording of Dr. Don Rakow, retired Cornell University faculty member, speaking to a live audience at the Phoenicia Playhouse. Rakow’s talk is now available on the AWSMP YouTube Channel. AWSMP’s YouTube channel hosts educational videos about stream and floodplain management and local ecology, with many videos for youth education.
The research that Rakow presented was an overview of the scientific literature surrounding the positive health benefits of spending time near water as well as some of his own research on the minimum dose of time in nature needed to observe a positive physiological response. Rakow and his colleagues found that spending as little as 10 minutes outside, including places like backyards and public parks, a few times a week can have positive effects on mental and physical health. These effects include decreased blood pressure and reduction in salivary cortisol levels, which is a biological marker of stress.
Rakow is the co-director of the Campus Nature Rx Network, a network of over 70 colleges and universities using nature to support mental and physical health of college students.
Rakow’s talk was one element of the Blue Spaces, Healing Spaces public event cohosted by the AWSMP and Morton Memorial Library of Pine Hill.
The Blue Spaces, Healing Spaces event is part of the larger AWSMP Ashokan Watershed Conference that runs until October 2024. The conference theme this year is “Conservation Through Connection.” To learn more about the conference and view the event schedule visit https://ashokanstreams.org/ashokan-watershed-conference/.
The AWSMP is a collaboration between the Ulster County Soil & Water Conservation District, CCE Ulster and the NYC Department of Environmental Protection.
The stream program office in Shokan, NY, can be reached at 845.688.3047 or info@ashokanstreams.org. For more information on outreach programs, funding and stream projects go to www.ashokanstreams.org.
