#16: Your Brain, and Body, on Nature

https://nres.illinois.edu/directory/fekuo (Dr. Ming Kuo), Professor of Environmental Psychology and Director of the Landscape and Human Health Lab at University of Illinois joins the podcast to discuss the myriad psychological and physiological benefits that exposure to nature can provide, from decreased aggression, improved executive function and memory, and more.
We discuss Dr. Kuo's https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00139160121972846 (attention restoration hypothesis) and her research supporting decreases of crime in places with more green spaces, the inequitable distribution of trees and green spaces in urban environments, and much more.
Among her many distinctions, Dr. Kuo is a panelist and contributing author for the Blue Ribbon Green Infrastructure Panel, a consultant to the City of Chicago on their Green Urban Design Initiative, and an expert panelist for the Robert Wood Johnson Active Living Research National Advisory Council.
Background reading:
https://www.npr.org/2019/08/12/750538458/you-2-0-our-better-nature (You 2.0: Our Better Nature) (NPR / Hidden Brain)
https://neurosciencenews.com/greenspace-crime-reduction-15813/ (Green spaces can reduce violent crime )(Neuroscience News)
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/24/climate/racism-redlining-cities-global-warming.html (How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering) (The New York Times)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00139160121972846 (Coping with Poverty: Impacts of Environment and Attention in the Inner City) (Dr. Ming Kuo)
https://e360.yale.edu/features/ecopsychology-how-immersion-in-nature-benefits-your-health (Ecopsychology: How Immersion in Nature Benefits Your Health) (Yale University360)
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