Design of the Month

We also compared the effects of running on a treadmill while runners were faced with one of four views, which we classified as rural pleasant, rural unpleasant, urban pleasant and urban unpleasant. There was also a control group who had no view at all, as in most gyms. "Rural pleasant" was the winner, with improved psychological outcomes and substantially reduced blood pressure, while the "urban unpleasant" view came bottom. Runners with "no view" fared better than those viewing gritty urban scenes.