Vy Strong Strong1

Professor Gregory

English 1201

05 July 2020
Literture Review

Many of us have a favorite superhero. People around the world gather to the premiers

dressed as Marvel characters when new movies come out. A sense of “good” and

accomplishment surges when the hero in the story defeats the villain. People like to believe that

they can differentiate the “good” guys from the “bad” guys in reality. The villains get

punishments deserving of the crimes and the world is “right” again. In reality, are people with

mental health disorders receiving treatments deserving of villains? How does time spent

outdoors affect mental health? Time spent outdoors should be considered more readily as a form

of treatment for mental health disorders since research has found that outdoor time can directly

relate to increase in mood, better sleep, and less need for prescription medications.

Mental health was viewed with great stigma in previous times. People who suffered from

mental disorders would often be “sent away” to asylums and, in some cases, would undergo

drastic procedures to correct the ailment. Some patients would be medically sedated to the point

that they would be devoid of any sense of themselves. As science began to grasp a little more

understanding about mental health disorders, the methods improved. In today’s time, counseling

along with medication is offered. In many cases, this treatment is effective and allows for the

patient to live out life among other civilians. Even though progress has been made, treatment of

mental disorders can still use improvement.

Green space, exercise, and sunlight have great benefits to mental health. “Time spent

outdoors was linked to fewer depression symptoms in a popula-tion-based sample of adults”

(Bélanger, 2019). The research was conducted in many different environments but the evidence
Vy Strong Strong2

Professor Gregory

English 1201

05 July 2020
proved that in most capacities, greater amount of time outdoors benefited the state of mental

health. The writings researched all belong in the peer-reviewed scholarly article category. The

written articles are research oriented and are free of bias. The main goals are to educate and

provide evidence based research.

The research presented many different facets into the study of mental health. In “Sleep‐

competing Behaviours among Australian School‐attending Youth: Associations with Sleep,

Mental Health and Daytime Functioning.”, David Mellor addressed the effects of screen time vs

time spent in nature and it’s effects on sleep in school aged children. Mathieu Bélanger wrote in,

“Physical Activity Mediates the Relationship between Outdoor Time and Mental Health”, about

the affects of going outdoors and participating in physical activities. The first article mentioned

appeared in a book targeted to people who work in indoor environments such as office buildings.

The other article was published by a medical journal targeting those that have access to outdoor

space.

When speaking about mental health there is still a stigma that comes along with the

discussion. Mental disorders are portrayed in society as people in straight jackets resembling a

villain off of a Gotham t.v. show. The more these disorders are being normalized in society, the

better our understanding of them and treatments are. There is still much more to learn about our

brains and how mental disorders effect each person but, the answer does not seem to be clear

whether prescription drugs alone or time spent in nature alone will be enough to maintain a

lasting treatment. The only thing that is clear is, both are effective treatments. Perhaps, the

answer is a combination of both therapies. Regardless, it is clear that more research is needed.
 Works Cited

Bélanger, Mathieu, et al. “Physical Activity Mediates the Relationship between Outdoor Time and

Mental Health.” Preventive Medicine Reports, vol. 16, Dec. 2019. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2019.101006.

Browning, Matthew H. E. M., et al. “Can Simulated Nature Support Mental Health? Comparing

Short, Single-Doses of 360-Degree Nature Videos in Virtual Reality With the Outdoors.”

Frontiers in Psychology, 2020. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02667.

Fournier, Charles, et al. “Association between Binge Drug Use and Suicide Attempt among People

Who Inject Drugs.” Substance Abuse, vol. 39, no. 3, July 2018, p. 315. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1080/08897077.2017.1389800.

Furu, K., et al. “Legal Drug Use in a General Population: Association with Gender, Morbidity, Health

Care Utilization, and Lifestyle Characteristics.” Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, vol. 50, no. 3,

Jan. 2019, pp. 341–349. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/S0895-4356(96)00362-9.

Mellor, David, et al. “Sleep‐competing Behaviours among Australian School‐attending Youth:

Associations with Sleep, Mental Health and Daytime Functioning.” International Journal of

Psychology, vol. 55, no. 1, Feb. 2020, pp. 13–21.

Triguero-Mas, Margarita, et al. “Natural Outdoor Environments and Mental Health: Stress as a

Possible Mechanism.” Environmental Research, vol. 159, Nov. 2017, pp. 629–638. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2017.08.048.