The impact of blue space on human health and well-being - Salutogenetic health effects of inland surface waters: a review

Water is one of the most important physical, aesthetic landscape elements and possesses importance e.g. in environmental psychology, landscape design, and tourism research, but the relationship between water and health in current literature is only investigated in the field of environmental toxicology and microbiology, not explicitly in the research field of blue space and human well-being. Due to the lack of a systematic review of blue space and well-being in the various fields of research, the aim of this review is to provide a systematic, qualitative meta-analysis of existing studies that are relevant to this issue. Benefits for health and well-being clearly related to blue space can be identified with regard to perception and preference, landscape design, emotions, and restoration and recreation. Additionally, direct health benefits have already been stated. The studies included in the review are mostly experimental studies or cross-sectional surveys, focusing on students as the subject group. There is a need for more qualitative and multi-faceted, interdisciplinary studies, using triangulation as a method to achieve a resilient image of reality. A broader study design considering all age groups would contribute to identifying benefits for the whole of society. The inattentiveness to blue space makes it difficult to measure long-term effects of blue space on well-being. There is still little respect for water and health in planning issues, although salutogenetic health benefits can be identified. To close the gap regarding missing systematic concepts, a concept for assessing salutogenetic health effects in blue space is provided. Blue space is considered therein as a multi-dimensional term including four dimensions of appropriation, as well as at least five ontological dimensions of substantiality. The aim of the concept is to support researchers and practitioners analysing health effects in blue space.

Yearlong physical activity and regional stiffness of arteries in older adults: the Nakanojo Study

Our objectives were to test the hypothesis that the habitual physical activity of elderly individuals is associated with less arterial stiffening, to explore characteristics of any dose/response relationship, and to determine those segments of the arterial tree where associations are most apparent. Participants (89 men and 109 women, aged 65-84) wore a pedometer/accelerometer continuously for 1 year. The daily step count and the duration of moderate-intensity activity (>3 metabolic equivalents, METs) were recorded. At year's end, an automatic waveform analyzer determined the pulse wave velocity between five recording sites: the aortic root, and the carotid, brachial, femoral and tibial arteries. After appropriate adjustments for sex, age, and mean arterial pressure, overall (delta brachio-tibial "velocity") and central arterial stiffness (cardio-femoral velocity) showed small but statistically significant negative correlations with daily step count and the duration of activity >3 METs. Cardio-carotid velocity was also associated with step count. In contrast, cardio-brachial and femoro-tibial velocities were not significantly related to either estimate of habitual activity. Cardio-femoral and delta brachio-tibial velocities were significantly lower in physically active individuals, apparently reaching a minimum in subjects who exceeded counts of about 6,600 steps/day and/or exercised for more than 16 min/day at an intensity >3 METs. The data support our hypothesis, showing weak but statistically significant associations between habitual physical activity and pulse wave assessments of arterial stiffness in elderly adults. Further studies are recommended to test the causality of these associations and to explore why relationships seem more marked for central than for peripheral arterial segments.

Development of a portable vital sensing system for home telemedicine

For safe and effective home medical care, a network system for observing one's vital signs noninvasively and evaluating one's health conditions is highly desirable. In this paper, we described a portable vital sensing system and a home medical server to establish a home telemedicine system. In order to develop a portable vital sensing system, physiological sensing circuit, digital signal processor and wireless communication device are integrated into a small electrical circuit, called "smart telecom unit" with a size of 25mm * 37mm. By using a smart telecom unit, noninvasive vital sensing units including blood pressure, electrocardiograph, pulse wave and body temperature were developed. These sensing units are able to communicate vital records to a home medical server, which consists of a small computer and virtual physiological model to estimate health conditions and can seamlessly connect to the Internet. The accuracy and stability were evaluated in the system performance test. As a result of a performance test of a portable vital sensing system, these vital data could be measured easily and noninvasively. In addition, vital sensing system is able to communicate vital records to home medical server. Hence, it could be confirmed that it was useful to analyze daily health condition in order to prevent a lifestyle disease like hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes.