Parks and Recreation

Does a walk in the park do you good? The answer might seem like a ‘no-brainer’ but it’s taken a surprising amount of research recently to find out exactly why this might be. Did people developing grand landscapes in the eighteenth century or public parks in the nineteenth century get it right? What are the physiological mechanisms that help explain how we respond to such places: how mood and emotion are influenced by the landscape around us? I shall offer some insights into how the landscape make a difference to our long-term health and wellbeing.

Why are we the way we are? Why is it that for some people, standing up and speaking to a bunch of strangers in a pub is like water off a duck back, while for others the thought of it sends them running for the hills? Why are some of us prone to being anxious, depressed or fat? Nature, nurture and our lifestyle influence how we develop. However, there’s another important factor that can shape who we are ─the 9 months we spend in the womb. I will describe how the environment we encounter in the womb, can influence our behaviour, intelligence, appetite and our susceptibility to develop disease.