That's men for you/Padraig O'Morain's guide to men's health:I don't suppose you'd be impressed if you went to your GP because you felt a bit down in yourself and you were told to go take a walk in the park.
But research published in the UK last week suggests that a walk in the park may be just what we all need.
The mental health organisation, Mind, decided to examine the mental health benefits of what it called "green" exercise. The results were quite astonishing.
I should point out that "green" exercise has nothing to do with members of the Green Party trudging from door to door seeking your vote. Rather it refers to taking a walk in a country park, gardening and such activities.
A total of 108 people involved in green exercise activities with local Mind groups were surveyed. A remarkable proportion, 94 per cent, said their mental health had benefited. They reported feeling better about themselves and having a sense of achievement, having greater self-esteem and greater motivation.
The key thing is that not only was some sort of physical exercise involved but that it involved contact with nature.
It has been known for quite some time that exercise lifts your mood. What this latest study tells us is that the big benefits come from exercise in a "green" setting.
For example, 90 per cent of people who took an outdoor walk in a country park reported a boost in their self-esteem. Of those who took an indoor walk in a shopping centre, 44 per cent actually reported a reduction. So much for retail therapy!
Seventy-one per cent of those who were depressed reported an improvement in their mood from an outdoor walk compared with 45 per cent from a walk around the shopping centre. Indeed, 22 per cent reported that a walk around a shopping centre made their depression worse - I bet they were the guys.
Of people suffering from tension, 71 per cent felt better after a walk in the park compared with 28 per cent of those who walked around a shopping centre. And - no surprise here - 50 per cent of those who walked around the shopping centre felt even more stressed at the end.
The benefits of ecotherapy, as it is called, are taken more seriously on the continent than here. Hundreds of therapeutic farms exist to which people go to do farm work to boost their mental health.
There is a historical significance to this. Those big old psychiatric hospitals which are gradually being replaced with wards in general hospitals, all had farms attached. The farms provided many of the food needs of these institutions but they were also seen, when the hospitals were built, as conducive to the mental health of patients.
As the Mindreport puts it: "The principles behind ecotherapy are not new. In the past, mental health institutions were often situated in pleasant gardens and natural landscapes. But these considerations no longer play a significant role in the planning of urban and rural space in the design of hospitals, the treatment and care of people experiencing mental distress or the identification of public health and social care priorities."
In the light of that, look at the total disregard which planners and developers have shown for the provision of pleasant green spaces in the design of housing estates and apartment complexes over many years.
Look at the ugliness of the setting of health centres and indeed of many modern hospitals. Is it any wonder that we have seen increases in depression? It's as if we are cut off from our very souls.
So the message for mental health services is this: enabling people with mental health problems to take part in activities in a pleasant, green environment is far preferable to relying on medication alone.
And the message for the rest of us? If you want to feel better, get off the sofa and get back to nature.
[ www.mind.org.uk/mindweek/reportOpens in new window ]
• Padraig O'Morainis the author of Like A Man - a guide to men's emotional wellbeing (Veritas). His blog is at www.justlikeaman.blogspot.com