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Gascon, MAuthorRanzani, OAuthorMarquez, SAuthorTriguero-Mas, MAuthorCarrasco-Turigas, GAuthorArjona, LAuthorKoch, SAuthorLlopis, MAuthorNieuwenhuijsen, MCorresponding Author

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September 1, 2020
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Physical and mental health effects of repeated short walks in a blue space environment: A randomised crossover study

Publicated to: ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH. 188 109812- - 2020-09-01, DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.109812

Authors:

Vert, C; Gascon, M; Ranzani, O; Marquez, S; Triguero-Mas, M; Carrasco-Turigas, G; Arjona, L; Koch, S; Llopis, M; Donaire-Gonzalez, D; Elliott, LR; Nieuwenhuijsen, M
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Affiliations

Australian Catholic Univ, Mary MacKillop Inst Hlth Res, Melbourne, Vic, Australia - Author
Barcelona Lab Urban Environm Justice & Sustainabi, Barcelona, Spain - Author
CIBER Epidemiol & Salud Publ CIBERESP, Barcelona, Spain - Author
IMIM Hosp Mar Med Res Inst, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Inst Environm Sci & Technol, Barcelona, Spain - Author
ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Univ Autonoma Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Univ Exeter, European Ctr Environm & Human Hlth, Med Sch, Exeter, Devon, England - Author
Univ Pompeu Fabra UPF, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Univ Utrecht, Inst Risk Assessment Sci IRAS, Div Environm Epidemiol EEPI, Utrecht, Netherlands - Author
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Abstract

Introduction: Blue spaces may benefit mental health and promote physical activity, although the evidence is still scarce. And benefits on physical health are less consistent. The objective of this randomized crossover study was to assess psychological and cardiovascular responses to blue spaces' exposure. Methods: A sample of 59 healthy adult office workers was randomly assigned to a different environment (i.e. blue space, urban space, and control site) on 4 days each week, for 3 weeks. For 20 min per day, they either walked along a blue or an urban space or rested at a control site. Before, during and/or after the exposure, we measured self-reported well-being and mood, blood pressure, and heart rate variability parameters. For well-being, we also assessed the duration of these potential effects over time (at least 4 h after exposure). Results: We found significantly improved well-being and mood responses immediately after walking in the blue space compared with walking in the urban space or when resting in the control site. Cardiovascular responses showed increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system, both during and after walking along the blue and urban spaces. However, cardiovascular responses measured after the walks, showed no statistically significant differences between the blue and the urban space environments. Conclusions: Short walks in blue spaces can benefit both well-being and mood. However, we did not observe a positive effect of blue spaces for any of the cardiovascular outcomes assessed in this study.
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Keywords

blue spacescardiovascular healthmoodphysical activityAdrenergic systemAdultArticleBlood pressureBlood pressure monitoringBlue spacesCardiovascular diseaseCardiovascular healthCardiovascular responseControlled studyCross-over studiesCrossover procedureFemaleForestHeart rateHeart rate variabilityHumanHuman experimentHumansMajor clinical studyMaleMental healthMoodNatural environmentsOccupational exposureOffice workerPhysical activityPsychologyPublic healthRandomized controlled trialRecommendationsSpaceStressUrban regionWalkingWell-beingWellbeing

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2020, it was in position 16/203, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Public, Environmental & Occupational Health. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 6.07. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 13, 2025)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 4.09 (source consulted: FECYT Mar 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2026-11-07, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 117
  • Scopus: 123
  • Europe PMC: 17
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-11-07:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 274.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 277 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 526.
  • The number of mentions on the social network Facebook: 3 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 17 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions in news outlets: 63 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Australia; Netherlands; United Kingdom.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Vert, C) and Last Author (Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J.

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Awards linked to the item

This work, which has been conducted within the BlueHealth Project (https://bluehealth2020.eu/), was supported by funding received from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 666773. MTM is funded by a Juan de la Cierva fellowships [FJCI-2017-33842] awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. OTR is funded by a Sara Borrell grant from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CD19/00110). MG holds a Miguel Servet fellowship (Grant CP19/00183) funded by Accion Estrategica de Salud - Instituto de Salud Carlos III, co-funded by European Social Fund "Investing in your future". The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The study was approved by the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of the Parc de Salut MAR.
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