Switch out the coffee break for a visit to the park or getting some fresh air if you want to increase your working capacity.

A new global study shows that 39 per cent of respondents believe that a visit to the park during the work day would increase job performance. 77 per cent believe that getting fresh air have a positive effect on work capacity, while 52 percent feel taking a walk also helps their job performance. This can be compared with a coffee break, for example, which 27 per cent in the study think is performance lifting.

Husqvarna Group, the world’s largest manufacturer of outdoor products, conducted a global study in nine countries to discover people’s relationship to forests, parks and gardens. The study is presented in Husqvarna’s Global Green Space Report 2013, in which 4 500 people in the countries of Sweden China, Russia, USA, Germany, Canada, Australia, Poland and France participated. 

Something which unites all of the countries is the belief that green spaces have the ability to affect people’s well-being. 77 percent of Canadian respondents think that spending time in forests, parks and gardens is an effective way to increase one’s ability to concentrate, and 76 percent think that nature reduces people’s stress and anxiety. Time in green spaces is thought to offer more for our well-being than our jobs, our sex lives, money or religion. The only thing thought to improve our well-being more than nature is our relationship with family.