Walkable Communities Lowered Mental Health Stressors During COVID-19 Pandemic_188体育app_188体育在线-平台官网

Robbin Ray ’82
Thu, 21 Aug 2025 10:15 -0400

DURHAM, N.H.—Research out of the University of New Hampshire shows that communities that were easier for people to lace up and get out for a walk during the COVID-19 pandemic also helped lower the impact of mental health issues, like stress and anxiety.
“The unknown of the pandemic was difficult but to be able to get outside and simply go for a walk was a salvation for many people,” said Karen Conway, professor of economics at UNH’s Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics. “In my own family, all my adult children moved home during the pandemic and we must have gone on walks three or four times a day. It was a chance to see other people, we could wave across the street and say, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ It was definitely a mental thing more than a physical thing.”
In a study recently...