Family Friendly Parks

Parks provide opportunities for physical activity and connecting with the outdoors. The resulting impacts are better mental health, improved physical health and increased physical activity.

Walking, park prescriptions, community gardening and farmers’ market vouchers may promote nature contact, strengthen social structures, and improve longer term mental and physical health by activating intrapersonal, interpersonal and environmental processes.

Access to indoor and/or outdoor recreation facilities and frequency of park visitation correlate with greater physical activity; people who use parks and open spaces are three times more likely to achieve recommended levels of physical activity than non-users.

Children with access to parks and facilities have shown decreased prevalence of obesity compared to children without access. By contrast, children lacking parks are more likely to be physically inactive, have excessive screen-time (greater than or equal to four hours daily), obtain inadequate sleep, and be obese, overweight, or diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Eighty-three percent of U.S. adults agree it is important to have access to indoor and outdoor recreational areas, classes and activities in order to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Green space exposure in urban environments corresponds with lower mortality.

Green space exposure corresponds with improved physical health, including decreases in stress, blood pressure, heart rate, and risk of chronic disease (cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular heart disease)