Pick up a pitchfork, not a prescription for wellbeing

Spending time in outdoors, taking time out of the everyday to surround yourself with greenery and living things can be one of life’s great joys—and recent research also suggest it's good for your body and your brain

- Yvonne Black, PhD researcher at the University of Hull.

This is an undated stock photo of someone planting a bare root rose.

writes Yvonne Black, PhD researcher at the University of Hull.

Scientists have found that spending two hours a week in nature is linked to better health and well-being.

It's maybe not entirely surprising then that some patients are increasingly being prescribed time in nature and community gardening projects as part of “green prescriptions” by the NHS.

In Shetland for example, islanders with depression and anxiety may be given “nature prescriptions”, with doctors there recommending walks and activities that allow people to connect with the outdoors.

Social prescriptions - non-medical treatments which have health benefits - are already used across the NHS to tackle anxiety, loneliness and depression.