Views of nature influence sugar consumption and delayed satisfaction

Cover KAO CC, Wu Wh, Chiou WB. Contact with nature can lead to less discounting and healthier nutritional decisions. J Environ Psychol. 2019; 65: 101333. In order to determine the influence of natural and urban landscapes on sugar consumption, conveyed by temporal discounting (the tendency to devalue greater future advantages relative to immediate smaller profits, i.e. to prefer immediate satisfaction to delayed satisfaction). Participants in the study took part in the basic course of 93 students in a Taiwanese university (average age 20.9 years, 51.6 % female) with the desire for weight loss. The researchers collected information about their motivation for losing weight, the time since ...

11. August 2022

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kao cc, wu Wh, chiou wb. Contact with nature can lead to less discounting and healthier nutritional decisions. J Environ Psychol . 2019; 65: 101333.

Study goal

In order to determine the influence of natural and urban landscapes on sugar consumption, through time discounting (the tendency to devalue greater future advantages relative to immediate smaller profits, i.e. to prefer immediate satisfaction to delayed satisfaction).

participant

93 students took part in the basic course in a Taiwanese university (average age 20.9 years, 51.6 % female) with the desire for weight loss. The researchers collected information about their motivation for losing weight, the time since the last meal and the current body mass index (BMI). The exclusion criteria included a prehistory of an eating disorder and the current participation in a diet for weight loss (including changing nutrition and taking nutritional supplements for weight loss).

draft

The participants were randomly divided into 1 of 3 consideration conditions in which they observed scenes on a laptop computer screen that corresponded to one of 3 landscape view types: of course, urban or controlled. With each condition, a sequence of 6 scenes was displayed and each picture was displayed for 1 minute. The participants were instructed to "immerse yourself in the environment that is shown in every picture".

The participants then completed a measure of the time discounting (see below) and a psychological personality test to obscure the purpose of the experiment until after the study was completed. Finally, the participants received a "participation leverage" from Bubble Tea with an optional addition.

target parameter

Time discounting (TD): An important level in the evaluation of health behavior decisions. TD evaluates the devaluation of future advantages by a person for more direct rewards, i.e. the preference for immediate satisfaction to delayed satisfaction.
- In the study, the participants answered hypothetical questions about the lottery profit in various dollar amounts - e.g. B. "If you won, would you prefer to have $ 2,000 or $ 4,000 in one year?" Serivating questions with different amounts identified a preferred “discount rate” for each participant, from 0 (no discount) to 1 (complete discount, ie the participant always chooses an immediate reward).
sugar quantity (SA): The participants were able to choose how cute their reward bubble tea was (i.e. how much sugar was included), from 0 (no sugar) to 5 (normal sugar).

important knowledge

The visual conditions had a small but statistically significant influence on both the time discounting and the amount of sugar, with further analyzes showing that the former significantly influenced the latter. Special:

participants who looked at natural scenes, had a 17.5% lower middle TD as participants in the urban ( p = 0.014) and control ( p = 0.029) groups.
In a similar way, participants who looked at nature had 19.1 % lower SA as a participant in the city ( p = 0.013) and control ( p = 0.017) groups.
The mediation analysis has shown that:
- natural view was a significant factor in the prediction of TD (B = −0.18, SE = 0.06, t =-2.749, p = 0.007);
- TD was a significant prediction factor when determining SA (B = 2.83, SE = 0.45, t = 6.347, p <0.001);
- natural view was only a significant predictive factor in the determination of SA if TD was included in the analysis (b = −0.95, SE = 0.33, t =-2.885, p = 0.005).
Finally, the natural view also significantly influenced the sugar -free option (ie SA = 0), but only if TD was included in the analysis (b = 1,32, SE = 0.50, z = 2.638, p = 0.008, forest = 6.956).

All conditions were statistically equivalent to the motivation for losing weight, the time since the last meal and the BMI. There was no difference between male and female participants in relation to the results.

practice implications

The ability of natural views to influence the physiological and psychological state is well documented. ^{2–4 This study is one of the first to connect the presence of nature with changes in health behavior (in this case) and suggests an explanatory mechanism (temporal discounting).}

Health behavior (i.e. our decisions and the measures we take in terms of our health) determine 30 % to 50 % of our health. This applies in particular to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obesity, which are both calorically and nutritional in a well-established and obvious connection with nutrition.

One of the greatest influences of nutritional decisions is the tendency to engage in "time discounting", or the reduced ability to delay satisfaction. Weight gain). This preference for unhealthy short -term profits with the resulting long -term harmful effects contributes significantly to individual health conditions and the modern epidemic of many chronic, nutritional diseases.

The environment influences every aspect of our health, including conscious and unconscious decisions that affect health behavior.

The prevailing mechanism that combines the perception of the environment with health effects, possibly, including sugar consumption, causes an evolutionary perspective. It is known that natural scenes promote psychophysiological relaxation through evolutionarily derived "biophilic" reactions. ^7.8 Our species has developed to relax for over thousands of years if they meet the natural "base" environment of our prehistoric ancestors.

In this study, the presence of nature compared to urban or control views could have put the activity of the autonomous nervous system (ANS) into a parasympathetic state, away from a more likeable dominance, which reduces the energy metabolism and the (unconscious) desire for available "quick energy". if the struggle or escape is necessary. Several studies have shown ANS answers to similarly designed interventions. ^{11.12 Although the short duration of this study makes the recognition of hormonal changes impractical, it is possible that interest in metabolic available sugar was also influenced by neuroendocrine changes. Explain natural view, time discounting and sugar consumption by modulating the feeling of hunger and satiety as well as the cognitive function and decision-making in relation to health behavior. Further research in this area is required to show causal ways.}

This study had its limits. The researchers did not carry out a pre-post comparison of the result measurements, so that although there were no differences between the groups in relation to the time since the last meal, the BMI or the motivation for weight loss, it cannot be ruled out that people in the natural group had a priori tendencies to lower TD and/or SA. Future studies should possibly standardize these factors before experimental exposure between the groups in order to determine whether the variable is responsible for the measured effects.

In addition, the researchers did not ask the participants why they had chosen their amount of sugar reward, so it could be that TD had nothing to do with it. Future studies could deal with it, although it is also possible that nature-related TD is an unconscious process, as is the case with other natural mental-emotional effects such as mood, attention, memory, etc. After all, this was a pilot project study by 93 Taiwanese students; Larger studies with more diverse sample populations would increase the generalizability of the results.

FAZIT

The environment influences every aspect of our health, including conscious and unconscious decisions that affect health behavior. In particular, this study indicates that exposure to natural landscapes can be helpful in order to reduce sugar intake in young people population groups that are exposed to a risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and other nutritional diseases. In combination with existing research results, which show measurable effects on the physiological and psychological state, it is becoming increasingly clear that contact with stimuli from the natural environment can make a fundamental contribution to human health.

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