Enhancing health and wellbeing through immersion in nature: A conceptual perspective combining the stoic and Buddhist traditions

A growing body of evidence from a wide range of fields indicates that physical activity in nature improves psychological health and wellbeing (Pretty et al., 2005; Howell et al., 2013; Passmore and Howell, 2014)

Compilation and evaluation of small wastewater treatment systems on the basis of the reliability of reported reductions

The private sewage systems in Sweden releases around 600 tons of phosphorus per year, compared to about 350 tons from municipal sewage treatment plants, and they account for approximately 21% of the total anthropogenic discharge of phosphorus into Swedish waters. About 40% of Sweden's nearly 1 million private sewage systems are inferior with respect to emissions to surface and groundwater.   The technology of small sewage plants is under development and knowledge of treatment effects for different solutions is poorly consolidated. Municipal authorities lack resources to keep up with the technologic development and assess the reliability of the treatment performances that suppliers report for their products. The thesis aims to conduct a market review and evaluation of wholly or partially prefabricated small sewage plants, to make it easier for municipalities and property owners to assess different technical solutions. The goal is a compilation of the products on the market, evaluated on the basis of the reliability of specified degrees of reduction. Information on sampling procedures and test results were collected through a questionnaire to all active suppliers and the responses were then used to classify the products. The results suggest that most products have been extensively tested and shown a good cleaning ability. Those test results should be readily available to property owners and state authorities so that they do not have to make their own inquiries to verify the functionality of each product. Tests should also be entered in the central gauge database that is being constructed on behalf of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. A case study was conducted in five municipalities in order to investigate how the handling of private sewage plants can be improved. The current work situation, what improvements that are demanded and what the administrators think of various suggestions for action was identified through interviews. According to the results, all administrators use the Environmental Protection Agency's general recommendations in their work though most of them experience difficulties to interpret the recommendations, and demand clearer rules and guidance. Almost all administrators want to increase the use of digital data and collaborate more across municipal boundaries. Another interesting finding is that the strategies to define the levels of environmental protection differ widely both between the five municipalities and between administrators within the municipalities. Better coordination is needed to enhance legal certainty and predictability for property owners and contractors.Kunskapscentrum Små Avlop

Mindfulness training supported by a restorative natural setting : Integrating individual and environmental approaches to the management of adaptive resources

This thesis integrates restorative environments research and mindfulness research: two disparate but related approaches to managing the demands of modern living. Both offer ways to improve attention regulation by detaching from routine mental contents and engaging with present experience. However, restoration works bottom-up, from supportive environmental features, while mindfulness meditation works top-down, through effortful training. Complementarities between the two are the foundations of restoration skills training (ReST), a five-week mindfulness-based course that uses mindful sensory exploration in a natural setting to build a meditative state effortlessly. As in conventional mindfulness training (CMT), ReST involves a learning structure to teach versatile adaptive skills. Data were collected in four rounds, with successively refined versions of ReST given in a botanic garden and formally matched CMT given indoors. Data were collected to test short-term outcomes of practice sessions and long-term course outcomes. Four papers aim to determine whether ReST confers similar health benefits as CMT and has specific advantages related to lower effort and enhanced restoration. Paper I shows that on repeated measurement occasions across the course weeks, attention tests obtained before and after ReST practice sessions showed restorative effects (improved performance) consistently for general attention and increasingly for executive attention. In contrast, CMT practice indoors incurred increasing effort (deteriorated performance) seen in general attention. Despite these different short-term outcomes, ReST and CMT conferred similar generalized improvements over the course weeks. Paper II shows that ReST compared with CMT had higher course completion and better establishment of a regular practice. Compliance was mediated through perceived restorative qualities in the meditation setting and state mindfulness during the classes. Paper III shows that ReST was attended by at least similar benefits for general psychological functioning as CMT. Ratings of dispositional mindfulness and attention problems remained improved six months after ReST. After CMT, only attention problem ratings remained improved. However, chronic stress ratings were not lastingly improved with either course. Paper IV shows that with ReST, participants with higher initial ratings of attention problems subsequently completed more homework practice during the course. Homework practice in turn explained part of the improvement in dispositional mindfulness and attention problems. With CMT, homework practice was unrelated to initial attention problems and improvement. In conclusion, ReST is a promising alternative for people who struggle under heavy attention demands; effortful training is not necessary to improve attention regulation in early stages of mindfulness training. The theoretical and practical integration can guide further exchange between these related research fields

Individual Differences in Cognitive Functioning Predict Compliance With Restoration Skills Training but Not With a Brief Conventional Mindfulness Course

Mindfulness training is often promoted as a method to train cognitive functions and has shown such effects in previous studies. However, many conventional mindfulness exercises for beginners require cognitive effort, which may be prohibitive for some, particularly for people who have more pronounced cognitive problems to begin with. An alternative mindfulness-based approach, called restoration skills training (ReST), draws on a restorative natural practice setting to help regulate attention effortlessly and promote meditative states during exercises. Previous research has shown that a 5-week ReST course requires less effort and is attended by higher compliance with practice recommendations than a conventional mindfulness course, without compromising long-term outcomes. Here, we compare ReST and a formally matched conventional mindfulness course regarding the role that initial individual differences in cognitive functioning play in determining practice compliance and long-term improvements in dispositional mindfulness and cognitive functioning. In line with expectations, ReST participants who had more pronounced cognitive problems to begin with practiced more during the course, which in turn explained much of their improvement in dispositional mindfulness and cognitive functioning. In contrast, initial cognitive functioning did not explain practice and improvement in the conventional mindfulness course. The results provide further support for the potential utility of ReST as a low-effort method for enhancing cognitive functioning among people who would struggle with the demands of conventional mindfulness training. With careful integration of mindfulness practices with a restorative natural setting, these people can develop mindfulness and self-regulation capabilities without relying on effortful training

Mindfulness training supported by a restorative natural setting : Integrating individual and environmental approaches to the management of adaptive resources

This thesis integrates restorative environments research and mindfulness research: two disparate but related approaches to managing the demands of modern living. Both offer ways to improve attention regulation by detaching from routine mental contents and engaging with present experience. However, restoration works bottom-up, from supportive environmental features, while mindfulness meditation works top-down, through effortful training. Complementarities between the two are the foundations of restoration skills training (ReST), a five-week mindfulness-based course that uses mindful sensory exploration in a natural setting to build a meditative state effortlessly. As in conventional mindfulness training (CMT), ReST involves a learning structure to teach versatile adaptive skills. Data were collected in four rounds, with successively refined versions of ReST given in a botanic garden and formally matched CMT given indoors. Data were collected to test short-term outcomes of practice sessions and long-term course outcomes. Four papers aim to determine whether ReST confers similar health benefits as CMT and has specific advantages related to lower effort and enhanced restoration. Paper I shows that on repeated measurement occasions across the course weeks, attention tests obtained before and after ReST practice sessions showed restorative effects (improved performance) consistently for general attention and increasingly for executive attention. In contrast, CMT practice indoors incurred increasing effort (deteriorated performance) seen in general attention. Despite these different short-term outcomes, ReST and CMT conferred similar generalized improvements over the course weeks. Paper II shows that ReST compared with CMT had higher course completion and better establishment of a regular practice. Compliance was mediated through perceived restorative qualities in the meditation setting and state mindfulness during the classes. Paper III shows that ReST was attended by at least similar benefits for general psychological functioning as CMT. Ratings of dispositional mindfulness and attention problems remained improved six months after ReST. After CMT, only attention problem ratings remained improved. However, chronic stress ratings were not lastingly improved with either course. Paper IV shows that with ReST, participants with higher initial ratings of attention problems subsequently completed more homework practice during the course. Homework practice in turn explained part of the improvement in dispositional mindfulness and attention problems. With CMT, homework practice was unrelated to initial attention problems and improvement. In conclusion, ReST is a promising alternative for people who struggle under heavy attention demands; effortful training is not necessary to improve attention regulation in early stages of mindfulness training. The theoretical and practical integration can guide further exchange between these related research fields

Träning i medveten närvaro med stöd av en restorativ naturmiljö: Integrering av individbaserade och miljöbaserade metoder för hantering av adaptiva resurser - Mindfulness-baserad träning i återhämtningsfärdigheter (restoration skills training, ReST) i en naturlig miljö jämförd med konventionell mindfulnessträning: Vidmakthållna fördelar vid uppföljning efter sex månader

This project integrates restorative environments research and mindfulness research: two disparate but related approaches to managing the demands of modern living. Both offer ways to improve attention regulation by detaching from routine mental contents and engaging with present experience. However, restoration works bottom-up, from supportive environmental features, while mindfulness meditation works top-down, through effortful training. Complementarities between the two are the foundations of restoration skills training (ReST), a five-week mindfulness-based course that uses mindful sensory exploration in a natural setting to build a meditative state effortlessly. As in conventional mindfulness training (CMT), ReST involves a learning structure to teach versatile adaptive skills. Data were collected in four rounds, with successively refined versions of ReST given in a botanic garden and formally matched CMT given indoors. Data were collected to test short-term outcomes of practice sessions and long-term course outcomes. These data form the basis of the analyses presented in (Lymeus et al. (2022) Mindfulness-based restoration skills training (ReST) in a natural setting compared to conventional mindfulness training: Sustained advantages at a 6-month follow-up. Frontiers in Psychology). Note that some variables (marked T1 and T2) are also available in a related dataset (https://doi.org/10.5878/p34t-9j15) and were used in (Lymeus et al. (2020) Mindfulness-based restoration skills training (ReST) in a natural setting compared to conventional mindfulness training: Psychological functioning after a five-week course. Frontiers in Psychology) and were reused by Lymeus et al. in 2022 as background for the follow-up analyses. Data were collected before, immediately after, and six months after two different five-week mindfulness training courses: restoration skills training (ReST) and conventional mindfulness training, between which participants were randomly assigned. The participants were university students who experienced stress or concentration problems. The procedure was repeated in four rounds of data collection during which the ReST course was progressively refined. The data set includes only participants who completed any of the courses during data collection rounds 2-4 (N = 97). The dataset includes original data containing some missing values and 30 datasets with multiple imputations containing complete data. Data were collected with the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ; Baer et al. (2006). Using self-report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness. Assessment, 13(1), 27-45.), Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (Broadbent et al. (1982). The Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) and its correlates. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 21(1), 1-16.) and the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen et al. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24(4), 385-396).Detta projekt integrerar forskning om restorativa miljöer och mindfulnessforskning: två olika men relaterade metoder för att hantera kraven i modernt liv. Båda erbjuder sätt att förbättra uppmärksamhetsregleringen genom att ta ökad distans från rutinmässigt mentalt innehåll och engagera sig i nuvarande erfarenhet. Återhämtning fungerar emellertid bottom-up, med hjälp av miljöns stödjande egenskaper, medan mindfulnessmeditation fungerar top-down, genom ansträngande träning. Komplementariteter mellan de två är grunden för restoration skills training (ReST), en fem veckors mindfulness-baserad kurs som använder sensoriskt utforskande i en naturlig miljö för att bygga ett meditativt tillstånd utan ansträngning. Liksom i konventionell mindfulnesstraining har ReST en inlärningsstruktur för att lära ut mångsidiga anpassningsförmågor. Data samlades in i fyra omgångar, med successivt förfinade versioner av ReST som gavs i en botanisk trädgård och formellt matchad konventionell mindfulnessträning inomhus. Data samlades in för att testa för kortsiktiga utfall av enstaka träningspass och för långsiktiga utfall av kurserna. Dessa data ligger till grund för de analyser som presenteras i (Lymeus et al. (2022) Mindfulness-based restoration skills training (ReST) in a natural setting compared to conventional mindfulness training: Sustained advantages at a 6-month follow-up. Frontiers in Psychology). Observera att vissa variabler (markerade T1 och T2) även finns i ett relaterat dataset (https://doi.org/10.5878/p34t-9j15) och användes i (Lymeus et al. (2020) Mindfulness-based restoration skills training (ReST) in a natural setting compared to conventional mindfulness training: Psychological functioning after a five-week course. Frontiers in Psychology) och återanvändes av Lymeus et al 2022 som bakgrund till uppföljningsanalyserna. Data samlades in före, direkt efter och sex månader efter två olika femveckors mindfulnesstränings-kurser: restoration skills training (ReST) och konventionell mindfulnessträning, mellan vilka deltagarna fördelades slumpmässigt. Deltagarna var universitetsstudenter som upplevde stress eller koncentrationsproblem. Förfarandet upprepades i fyra datainsamlingsomgångar under vilka ReST-kursen successivt förfinades. Datamaterialet omfattar endast deltagare som genomförde någon av kurserna under datainsamlingsomgångarna 2-4 (N = 97). Datamängden omfattar originaldata som innehåller vissa saknade värden och 30 dataset med multipla imputeringar som innehåller fullständiga data. Data samlades in med Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ; Baer et al. (2006). Using self-report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness. Assessment, 13(1), 27–45.), Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (Broadbent et al. (1982). The Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) and its correlates. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 21(1), 1–16.) och Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen et al. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24(4), 385–396.

The restorative environment and salutogenesis : Complementary concepts revisited

In this chapter, the authors consider how research on restorative environments can augment research on salutogenesis by calling attention to the dynamics of depletion and renewal of resources needed for the maintenance and promotion of health and well-being and by showing how the sociophysical environment comes into play in people’s ongoing efforts to manage diverse resources. The authors also consider how research on salutogenesis can augment research on restorative environments by encouraging a broader view of the kinds of resources that can be depleted and the different levels on which they are organised and become available. The authors thus indicate areas for more systematic, reciprocal exchange between the fields

Restoration Skills Training in a Natural Setting Compared to Conventional Mindfulness Training : Sustained Advantages at a 6-Month Follow-Up

Restoration skills training (ReST) is a mindfulness-based course in which participants draw support from a natural practice setting while they learn to meditate. Well-established conventional mindfulness training (CMT) can improve psychological functioning but many perceive it as demanding and fail to sustain practice habits. Applying non-inferiority logic, previous research indicated that ReST overcomes compliance problems without compromising the benefits gained over 5 weeks' training. This article applies similar logic in a 6-month follow-up. Of 97 contacted ReST and CMT course completers, 68 responded and 29 were included with multiple imputation data. The online survey included questions about their psychological functioning in three domains (dispositional mindfulness, cognitive lapses, and perceived stress) and the forms and frequencies with which they had continued to practice mindfulness after the course. Former ReST participants continued, on average, to show higher dispositional mindfulness and fewer cognitive lapses compared to pre-course ratings. Improved psychological functioning in one or more domains was demonstrated by 35%, as determined by a reliable change index. Again, analyses detected no indications of any substantive disadvantages compared to the more demanding, established CMT approach. Compared to the CMT group, more ReST participants had also continued to practice at least occasionally (92 vs. 67%). Continued practice was linked to sustained improvements for ReST but not clearly so for CMT. ReST participants thus continued to use the skills and sustained the improvements in psychological functioning that they had gained in the course, further supporting the utility of ReST as a health intervention

Mindfulness-Based Restoration Skills Training (ReST) in a Natural Setting Compared to Conventional Mindfulness Training : Psychological Functioning After a Five-Week Course

Restoration skills training (ReST) is a mindfulness-based course that draws on restorative nature experience to facilitate the meditation practice and teach widely applicable adaptation skills. Previous studies comparing ReST to conventional mindfulness training (CMT) showed that ReST has important advantages: it supports beginning meditators in connecting with restorative environmental qualities and in meditating with less effort; it restores their attention regulation capabilities; and it helps them complete the course and establish a regular meditation habit. However, mindfulness theory indicates that effortful training may be necessary to achieve generalized improvements in psychological functioning. Therefore, this study tests whether the less effortful and more acceptable ReST approach is attended by any meaningful disadvantage compared to CMT in terms of its effects on central aspects psychological functioning. We analyze data from four rounds of development of the ReST course, in each of which we compared it to a parallel and formally matched CMT course. Randomly assigned participants (total course starters = 152) provided ratings of dispositional mindfulness, cognitive functioning, and chronic stress before and after the 5-week ReST and CMT courses. Round 4 also included a separately recruited passive control condition. ReST and CMT were attended by similar average improvements in the three outcomes, although the effects on chronic stress were inconsistent. Moderate to large improvements in the three outcomes could also be affirmed in contrasts with the passive controls. Using a reliable change index, we saw that over one third of the ReST and CMT participants enjoyed reliably improved psychological functioning. The risk of experiencing deteriorated functioning was no greater with either ReST or CMT than for passive control group participants. None of the contrasts exceeded our stringent criterion for inferiority of ReST compared with CMT. We conclude that ReST is a promising alternative for otherwise healthy people with stress or concentration problems who would be less likely to complete more effortful CMT. By adapting the meditation practices to draw on restorative setting characteristics, ReST can mitigate the demands otherwise incurred in early stages of mindfulness training without compromising the acquisition of widely applicable mindfulness skills.Title in thesis list of papers: Mindfulnesss-based restoration skills training (ReST) in a natural setting compared to conventional mindfulness training: A randomized trial with six-month follow-up</p