Lee Suckling: The mental health fix that will cost you nothing

The natural environment can help reduce psychological stress indicators and even remedy mild depression. Photo / Getty

We all know green spaces are a benefit to the environment. They filter pollution from our cities, literally providing us with more oxygen to breathe.

There's also a slew of international evidence out there that also explains how good green spaces are for your mental health and wellbeing - particularly for children, pregnant women, seniors, and low socio-economic communities.

According to a review of research by the World Health Organisation (WHO), cities with well-connected, safe and attractive green spaces are likely to have healthier citizens overall, reduced demands on public health services, and even a stronger local economy.

The role of parks, gardens, and other green spaces in human wellbeing is something we take for granted in New Zealand. Green is the easiest colour to find in this country amongst our environment. We don't necessarily think of it as soothing; we just think of it as "there". Its sense of familiarity is the way New Zealand has always looked.

The house I live in has no garden or grass whatsoever. For me, seeking out green space must be an active pursuit - much like many other city-dwellers out there who are faced with concrete walls outside their windows instead of sprawling leafy vistas.

General scientific analysis, according to WHO, finds that the natural environment can help reduce psychological stress indicators and even remedy mild depression. There's a very strong evidential synthesis for positive associations between exposure to quality green space and perceived mental health, too. That is, whether or not our internal stresses and strains are actually alleviated or not, being in a park or a garden makes us think they are. Maybe it's a placebo. But if it works, does that really matter?

I use green spaces when I can't get out of my own head and need a new perspective. I'm always hesitant to leave my computer (or the comfort of my couch) because I naturally lean into a "push through it" approach to mental strain. Rather than take a break and clear my head, I know what anguish isn't sustainable and will eventually pass if I keep ploughing through.

Though I now understand the experience of being surrounded by greenery makes mental struggles pass much faster. It's so simple it's almost stupid, but that green space makes you feel smaller. Amongst tall trees that have been standing for a hundred years, whatever's going on in your head feels littler, too. Your problems don't exactly go away, you're just given a break from them. When you return, you're gifted with the ability to think ever-so-slightly differently.

I think I've suffered a case of Seasonal Affective Disorder this winter. But it's been green space that has helped me through. I wouldn't say it's a depression, but rather, a certain malaise whereby I've found myself yearning, on the daily, for months to pass by.

On the greyest of days, feeling sunken, low, cold to the bone, my regular walk through a park near my house has been what's saved me from discontent. I feel lighter when I walk that park, as if the open space above me and absence of people/trains/work/e-mails allows my whole brain to breathe. As I continue to pass through the wet trees and feel the mud squelching under my shoes, that awful feeling of cabin fever and agitation starts to alleviate.

I'm not going to try and tell you that I think green space is some sort of cure-all. It's not. It's just something that helps when I'm stressed, feel worried, and can't find my footing.

There's one thing about parks, gardens, hills, and bush that I can guarantee, though. No matter how negative you feel when you enter a green space - whether it's big or small, perfect weather outside or abysmally frigid - you never, ever end up leaving feeling worse.

When I'm in a bad headspace and can't decide what to do, here's something I always try to ask myself: When did you ever hear anybody say "I really regret going for that walk in the park?"

The answer, naturally, is never.