THE RESEARCH UNDERPINNING
WILD WOMEN ON TOP

Wild Women On Top uses research, statistics and references from credible and trusted sources. Research is categorised based on our core pillars of:

Walking/Physical Activity, Community, Nature, Doing Good, and Mental Health.

WALKING/PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

  • The Joy of Movement, Dr Kelly McGonigal 2019 Research based insights on how to fall in love with movement. Physical activity reduces inflammation in your brain, protecting against anxiety and depression in the long run, rewires it to be more receptive to joy and releases a potent cocktail of feel-good chemicals including pain-relieving, mood-boosting endocannabinoids (which cannabis mimics). These “don’t worry, be happy” molecules cause the so-called “runner’s high”. But any moderately difficult, heart-raising activity that you perform for 20 minutes can trigger it, writes Dr McGonigal. The resulting buzz is therefore more accurately termed a “persistence high”. https://kellymcgonigal.com/books 
  • Prospective Associations of Daily Step Counts and Intensity With Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Incidence and Mortality and All-Cause Mortality, Conclusions and Relevance Up to 10 000 steps per day may be associated with a lower risk of mortality and cancer and CVD incidence. Steps performed at a higher cadence may be associated with additional risk reduction, particularly for incident disease. 

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2796058

  • Walking: the first steps in cardiovascular disease prevention, Murtagh EM, Murphy MH, Boone-Heinonen J. Curr Opin Cardiol. 2010 Sep;25(5):490-6. doi: 10.1097/HCO.0b013e32833ce972. PMID: 20625280; PMCID: PMC3098122. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3098122/

  • Walking for Health: Harvard Medical School

https://www.health.harvard.edu/exercise-and-fitness/walking-for-health

  • Physical activity and your heart health Physical activity and exercise can benefit your heart, body and mind.

https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/heart-health-education/physical-activity-and-exercise

  • World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour, Bull FC, Al-Ansari SS, Biddle S, et al, British Journal of Sports Medicine 2020;54:1451-1462. 

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/54/24/1451?s=09&int_source=trendmd&int_medium=cpc&int_campaign=usage-042019 

  • The effects of exercise interventions on quality of life in clinical and healthy populations; a meta-analysis, Social Science & Medicine, Fiona Bridget Gillison et al,Volume 68, Issue 9, 2009,Pages 1700-1710,ISSN 0277-9536, 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953609001063

COMMUNITY

  • The Harvard Study of Adult Development – An 80 year study to find out what makes people happy. Intense social connections are good — and loneliness kills. More socially connected people are happier, healthier, and live longer.

https://www.adultdevelopmentstudy.org/

  • The relationship between organised recreational activity and mental health. A review of current literature indicates that people who participate in sports clubs and organised recreational activity enjoy better mental health, are more alert, and more resilient against the stresses of modern living. 18 March 2021

https://www.dlgsc.wa.gov.au/department/publications/publication/the-relationship-between-organised-recreational-activity-and-mental-health

  • Lack of Social Support in the Etiology and the Prognosis of Coronary Heart Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Barth, Jürgen & Schneider, Sarah & von Känel, Roland. (2010).  Psychosomatic medicine. 72. 229-38. 10.1097/PSY.0b013e3181d01611.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/41910263_Lack_of_Social_Support_in_the_Etiology_and_the_Prognosis_of_Coronary_Heart_Disease_A_Systematic_Review_and_Meta-Analysis

NATURE

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(23)00025-6/fulltext

  • Nature and mental health: An ecosystem service perspective. Gregory Bratman Et Al Science Advances, 24 Jul 2019: Vol. 5, no. 7, eaax0903 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aax090

https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/7/eaax0903 Impact Factor 14

  • Hubbard, G., Thompson, C.W., Locke, R. et al. Co-production of “nature walks for wellbeing” public health intervention for people with severe mental illness: use of theory and practical know-how. BMC Public Health 20, 428 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-08518-7

https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-020-08518-7

  • Effect of Nature Walks on Depression and Anxiety: A Systematic Review Yasuhiro Kotera 1,*, Melinda Lyons 1, Katia Correa Vione 1 and Briony Norton 2
  • Women report that nature tourism provides recovery from psychological trauma Ralf Buckley & Diane Westaway OAM, Tourism Recreation Research, DOI: 10.1080/02508281.2021.1917892

https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2021.1917892

  • The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative, Florence Williams Norton & Company 2018
  • Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44097-3

VOLUNTEERING/GIVING BACK

  • Jenkinson, C.E., Dickens, A.P., Jones, K. et al. Is volunteering a public health intervention? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the health and survival of volunteers.BMC Public Health 13,773 (2013).

https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-773

  • Rewards of kindness: A meta-analysis of the link between prosociality and well-being.Hui, B. P. H., Ng, J. C. K., Berzaghi, E., Cunningham-Amos, L. A., & Kogan, A. (2020). Psychological Bulletin, 146(12), 1084–1116.

https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000298

  • Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life by Dacher Keltner, 2009, Norton Publishers

https://www.amazon.com.au/Born-Be-Good-Science-Meaningful/dp/0393337138

MENTAL HEALTH

  • Are Long-Distance Walks Therapeutic? A Systematic Scoping Review of the Conceptualization of Long-Distance Walking and Its Relation to Mental Health, Mau, M., Aaby, A., Klausen, S. H., & Roessler, K. K. (2021). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(15), 7741

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157741

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8345809/

  • Fox, K. (1999). The influence of physical activity on mental well-being. Public Health Nutrition, 2(3a), 411-418. doi:10.1017/S1368980099000567
  • Exercise as a treatment for depression: A meta-analysis adjusting for publication bias. Schuch FB, Vancampfort D, Richards J, Rosenbaum S, Ward PB, Stubbs B. J Psychiatr Res. 2016 Jun;77:42-51. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2016.02.023. Epub 2016 Mar 4. PMID: 26978184

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26978184/

  • Wolfgang Marx, Sam H. Manger, Mark Blencowe, Greg Murray, Fiona Yan-Yee Ho, Sharon Lawn, James A. Blumenthal, Felipe Schuch, Brendon Stubbs, Anu Ruusunen, Hanna Demelash Desyibelew, Timothy G. Dinan, Felice Jacka, Arun Ravindran, Michael Berk & Adrienne O’Neil (2022) Clinical guidelines for the use of lifestyle-based mental health care in major depressive disorder: World Federation of Societies for Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) and Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ASLM) taskforce, The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, DOI:

10.1080/15622975.2022.2112074

  • A helper’s High is often described by those who volunteer and give back. And now the research is in supporting the physical and mental health benefits including:

https://www.academia.edu/30809772/Volunteering_and_Health_What_Impact_Does_It_Really_Have?auto=citations&from=cover_page

  • Tourism and health: using positive psychology principles to maximise participants’ wellbeing outcomes – a design concept for charity challenge tourism, Alexandra Coghlan (2015) Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23:3, 382-400,

OTHER

Longevity: Aging Joyfully

  • Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Harvard Study of Adult Development, George E. Vaillant  2008
  • Outlive, The Science and Art of Longevity, Peter Attia MD Harmony; First Edition (March 28, 2023)

Harvard’s George Vaillant uses these studies — the most complete ever done anywhere in the world — and the subjects’ individual histories to illustrate the factors involved in reaching a happy, healthy old age

Workplace Health Promotion/Interventions

  • Wolfenden, Luke et al. Workplace wellness programs to improve health, The Lancet Public Health, September 2021 Volume 6, Issue 9, e625

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(21)00184-5/fulltext?dgcid=raven_jbs_etoc_email#articleInformation

Women’s Health Gender Equality

  • Women’s Health: A new Global Agenda – British Medical Journal Data on death and disability in women from NCDs
    Peters SAE, Woodward M, Jha V, et al Women’s health: a new global agenda
  • BMJ Global Health 2016;1:e000080

https://gh.bmj.com/content/1/3/e000080

COASTREK BRAND RESEARCH

Buckley, R.C. & Westaway, D. 2020. Mental health rescue effects of women’s outdoor tourism: A role in COVID-19 recovery. Ann. Tour. Res., 85, 103041.

Buckley, R.C., & Westaway, D. 2021. Women report that nature tourism provides recovery from psychological trauma. Tour. Rec. Res., doi: 10.1080/02508281.2021.1917892

Buckley, R.C., Brough, P. & Westaway, D. 2018. Bringing outdoor therapies into mainstream mental health. Front. Publ. Health 6: 119.  [https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00119/full]

Buckley, R.C. and Brough, P. 2017.  Nature, eco and adventure therapies for mental health and chronic disease.  Front. Publ. Health 5: 220. [https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2017.00220/full]

Buckley, R.C., Westaway, D. and Brough, P.  2016. Social mechanisms to get people outdoors.  Front. Publ. Health 4: 257. [https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2016.00257/full]

Buckley, R.C., Brough, P., Hague, L., Chauvenet, A., Fleming, C., Roche, E., Sofija, E., Harris, N. 2019. Economic value of protected areas via visitor mental health.  Nature Communications 10: 5005.  [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12631-6]

Chauvenet, A., Buckley, R.C., Hague, L., Fleming, C., & Brough, P. 2020. Panel sampling in health research. Lancet Psych., 7, 840-841. [https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(20)30358-8/fulltext]

Buckley, R.C. & Brough, P. 2021. Mental health: set up long-term cohort studies. Nature, 352, 595. [https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01924-w]

Buckley, R.C. & Chauvenet, A. 2021. Six caveats to valuing ecosystem services. Nature, 592, 188. [https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00894-3]

Buckley, R.C., 2020. Nature tourism and mental health: parks, happiness, and causation. J. Sust. Tour., 28, 1409-1424.

Buckley, R.C. 2018. Ageing adventure athletes assess achievements and alter aspirations to maintain self-esteem. Front. Psych. 9: 225. [https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00225/full]