Explained: What are green prescriptions and why are doctors around the globe prescribing them?
What if your doctor simply prescribes a walk amidst nature instead of recommending dozens of medicines in a hand-written prescription? That is exactly what has been happening for a while in countries like Canada, New Zealand and Japan where doctors are issuing Green Prescriptions (GPs). This is being done, keeping in mind, that in this unprecedented Covid-19 world, most people, especially children, are suffering from mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. Medical practitioners in these parts of the globe believe that their unconventional diagnosis will help patients heal better and faster. Here’s all one needs to know about Green Prescriptions and their impact on people.
What is a Green Prescription?
In simple terms, a Green Prescription is a health professional’s written advice to a patient to stay physically active, maintain a nutritional diet and spend time amidst nature in order to manage their overall health and well-being. It is a holistic health-promotion strategy based on planetary health perspective.
As part of Green Prescription, countries like Canada are now even issuing annual passes to national parks, marine conservation sites and historical sites to encourage people to pay heed to their health by spending more time in natural surroundings.
In fact, Green Prescriptions are now being officially recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). This world body describes nature as our greatest source of health and wellbeing and suggests that focussing on the growth of biodiversity is a stepping stone in recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Significance of Green Prescriptions
Apart from proven mental health benefits of spending time outdoors as laid down in the Green Prescriptions, it is also widely used to control serious physical illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes and lung diseases.
The scientist community has also come forward to state that Green Prescriptions come in handy to enhance our immunity as spending time amidst nature enables people to come in contact with microbes that can train and reinforce human immune system.
Green Prescriptions have also been reported to improve sleep quality, reduce stress and boost happiness in people. In case of youngsters, it has also shown signs of enhanced attention span and focus, better memory retention and increased creativity.
As for the future, doctors and scientists believe that Green Prescriptions should be systematically incorporated to encourage nature-based interventions and thinking, especially in an urban setup. The goal is to care for ourselves while caring for the environment as well.
How did Green Prescription come into being?
Although the term Green Prescription might appear to be new, it is in fact decades old as was first issued in the late 1990s by doctors in New Zealand. Since then, it has become an established part of the country’s healthcare system. People there can also self-refer themselves to gain various free health benefits.
However, it was only after the advent of Covid-19 pandemic that Green Prescriptions got their long-due global recognition. The UK government in 2020 deduced a two-year green prescription scheme as part of its Covid-19 recovery plan. Thereafter, in 2021, WHO’s survey revealed that spending time by the water was the most highly-rated natural activity for improving mental health of people.
Although Japan hasn’t been issuing Green Prescriptions per se, since 1982 the country’s healthcare sector has been recommending ‘shinrin yoku’ or ‘forest bathing’ to motivate people to go out and explore the 3000 miles woodlands across the country. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Japan has made ‘shirin yoku’ an official part of its national health programme.
The USA has not been far either, as doctors there too have been issuing nature prescriptions for some time now.
Finnish people also believe that only a 15-minute daily walk in a city park is enough to restore energy and vitality. In fact, the recommended monthly minimum dose is spending five hours amidst nature to gain maximum health benefits.