Imperial College London
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DrAnsVercammen

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Centre for Environmental Policy

Honorary Research Fellow
 
 
 
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Contact

 

ans.vercammen15

 
 
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Location

 

503Weeks BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Reeves:2019:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01840,
author = {Reeves, JP and Knight, AT and Strong, EA and Heng, V and Neale, C and Cromie, R and Vercammen, A},
doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01840},
journal = {Frontiers in Psychology},
pages = {1--16},
title = {The application of wearable technology to quantify health and wellbeing co-benefits from urban wetlands},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01840},
volume = {10},
year = {2019}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Improved nature provision in urban environments offers great potential for achieving both biodiversity conservation and public health objectives. Yet there are few experimental studies that address links between specific natural environments and physiological and/or psychological changes that could contribute to the health and wellbeing co-benefits of urban nature. In addition, relative to green space, the salutogenic impact of aquatic environments are understudied. Here, we present a feasibility study examining the use of low-cost wearable technology to quantify the psychophysiological effects of short-term exposure to urban wetlands. The study took place at the WWT London Wetland Centre, which is characterized by its contrasting biodiverse wetland habitat and surrounding urban setting. Thirty-six healthy participants experienced counterbalanced exposures to an indoor space, a wetland, an urban site. We continuously recorded electroencephalographic (EEG) data and real-time physiological stress responses; with additional monitoring of post-exposure self-reported mood states. We found a significant effect of site on mean resting heart rate (HR), with increased HR in the urban setting, although this was only observed in participants with pre-existing high stress. We found no significant differences in other measures of physiological stress responses (heart rate variability and electrodermal activity). The EEG data showed modulation of high beta band activity only in the wetland setting, potentially related to changes in attention. However, the EEG findings were confounded by low quality signals and artifacts caused by movement and environmental interference. Assessments of self-reported mood states demonstrated an increase in positive feelings in the wetland setting. A pronounced decrease in negative feelings in the wetland setting was observed in stressed individuals only. Our results suggest that pre-existing stress levels may be an important modulator of the saluto
AU  - Reeves,JP
AU  - Knight,AT
AU  - Strong,EA
AU  - Heng,V
AU  - Neale,C
AU  - Cromie,R
AU  - Vercammen,A
DO  - 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01840
EP  - 16
PY  - 2019///
SN  - 1664-1078
SP  - 1
TI  - The application of wearable technology to quantify health and wellbeing co-benefits from urban wetlands
T2  - Frontiers in Psychology
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01840
UR  - http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000480577200002&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
UR  - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01840/full
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/73267
VL  - 10
ER  -
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