1. Quantifying Nature: Introducing NatureScore TM and NatureDose TM as Health Analysis and Promotion Tools.
- Author
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Browning, Matthew H. E. M., Hanley, Jared R., Bailey, Christopher R., Beatley, Timothy, Gailey, Samantha, Hipp, J. Aaron, Larson, Lincoln R., James, Peter, Jennings, Viniece, Jimenez, Marcia Pescador, Kahn Jr., Peter H., Li, Dongying, Reuben, Aaron, Rigolon, Alessandro, Sachs, Naomi A., Pearson, Amber L., and Minson, Christopher T.
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HEALTH promotion , *MOBILE apps , *RESEARCH personnel , *NATURE reserves , *ETHNIC groups - Abstract
This article explores the importance of nature exposure in the modern era and the potential health benefits associated with it. It acknowledges the shift from a natural, outdoor lifestyle to one dominated by urban environments, which has limited access to nature, particularly for certain socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups. The article emphasizes the negative consequences of reduced nature exposure on mental and physical health. It introduces two new technologies, NatureScoreTM and NatureDoseTM, which aim to quantify and promote nature exposure for health promotion purposes. NatureScoreTM is a dataset and tool that estimates the amount and quality of nature at any location, while NatureDoseTM is a mobile app that tracks an individual's daily or weekly exposure to nature. These technologies provide convenient and accurate ways to measure nature exposure and may help researchers understand the benefits of nature exposure and promote its use for health promotion. NatureDoseTM is a smartphone app that passively monitors a person's time spent indoors, outdoors, and outdoors in nature. The app uses the smartphone's sensors, geolocation, and a dataset called NatureScoreTM to determine the user's location and the amount of nature within a 1-km buffer. It assigns full nature exposure time credit when a user is outdoors in a designated natural area, and partial credit when they are outdoors but not in a natural area. The app also allows users to set a weekly goal for time spent outdoors in nature and tracks their progress. It has potential uses for clinicians, researchers, and policymakers, such as setting [Extracted from the article]
- Published
- 2024
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