✪✪✪✪✪ http://www.theaudiopedia.com ✪✪✪✪✪ What is GREEN EXERCISE? What does GREEN EXERCISE mean? GREEN EXERCISE meaning – GREEN EXERCISE definition – GREEN EXERCISE explanation. Source: Wikipedia.org article, adapted under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ license. Green exercise refers to physical exercise undertaken in natural environments. Physical exercise is well known to provide physical and psychological health benefits. There is also good evidence that viewing, being in, and interacting with natural environments has positive effects, reducing stress and increasing the ability to cope with stress, reducing mental fatigue and improving concentration and cognitive function. The concept of Green exercise has therefore grown out of well-established areas such as the attention restoration theory within environmental psychology which have tended to focus on the psychological and physical effects of viewing nature (e.g., see the work of Kaplan and Ulrich) and well-recognised work about the psychological benefits of physical exercise. The potential role of green exercise in physical and mental health (e.g., due to nature-deficit disorder) attracted increasing attention from the early twenty-first century, particularly through the research work of Jules Pretty and Jo Barton at the University of Essex. and several funded programs (see examples). Research has involved participants from many different cohorts including adults, young people and vulnerable groups such as those with mental illness . Instances of green exercise are numerous and diverse. Some examples include: 1. Natural England is funding eight demonstration green exercise projects through local regional partnerships. The main aim is to increase levels of physical activity and people’s connections to their local green spaces. 2. Green Exercise Partnership between NHS Health Scotland, FCS and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). In partnership with SNH and NHS Health Scotland, the Scottish Government is providing L3 million funding to the Paths for All Partnership between 2007 and 2010 to develop its Paths to Health Initiative, which currently supports over 20,000 people to take part in health walks each week. SNH and Government funding is also being provided to BTCV to extend their green gym project. 3. Green Gym programs are a type of green exercise. These generally involve organised groups which engage in volunteer environmental restoration work, but which are also specifically designed to provide physical exercise and physical conditioning in the context of experiencing natural environments. An example of such a green gym program are those conducted through the Australian Conservation Foundation which are based on similar programs conducted by the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers. 4. Barefoot running is an example of a type of physical exercise (running) which is conducted so as to include a greater degree of contact with the surrounding environment (by going barefoot).