# Fresh air: Just what the doctor ordered! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 8, 2022, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-air-just-what-the-doctor-ordered/959132 "2022-02-08T23:31:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-air-just-what-the-doctor-ordered/959132/1 "2022-02-08T23:31:35Z")
Doctors in Canada can now prescribe national park passes to patients > **[Doctors in Canada can now prescribe national park passes to patients](https://news.yahoo.com/doctors-canada-now-prescribe-national-002120688.html)** > > Studies show that time in nature can lead to a range of benefits, from less stress to higher self esteem > [@](#): > > “There’s almost no medical condition that nature doesn’t make better,” said Melissa Lem, a family physician and director of the PaRx initiative, which partnered with Parks Canada to help distribute the initial batch of 100 passes. While similar programs elsewhere have offered regional or local park visits, Lem believes this is the first such initiative with a national annual pass. Here’s something I didn’t know: > [@](#): > > Lem helped start Canada’s PaRx campaign in 2019 and it has since expanded to four provinces. It’s part of a broader movement that Lem says was in part inspired by ParkRx in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-air-just-what-the-doctor-ordered/959132/2 "2022-02-09T19:55:17Z")
Works for me, I have always loved going somewhere quiet and secluded to read and listen to music when I get depressed. Would be cool to be able to tell a boss that I have a prescription for 1 hour in a park because I have stress. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2022, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-air-just-what-the-doctor-ordered/959132/3 "2022-02-10T15:32:28Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Doctors in Canada can now prescribe national park passes to patients Forgive my ignorance - you need a pass to get into a national park? So if you didn’t have a prescription you would have to buy a ticket? j ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2022, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-air-just-what-the-doctor-ordered/959132/4 "2022-02-10T22:29:00Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Forgive my ignorance - you need a pass to get into a national park? So if you didn’t have a prescription you would have to buy a ticket?   > > j Yes, in America at least, some (all?) national parks and a great many state parks require an entry fee – paid at the parking lot, not usually via buying a ticket. It’s usually described as a parking fee – you pay a single price for one car, whether there are 1 or 20 people in the car. If you park outside the park somewhere, you can just walk in for free. This, of course, leads to parking congestion in the surrounding roads, whereupon the local authorities commonly post No Parking signs everywhere in some radius of the park. But you can also purchase an Annual Pass. Then they give you a tag you can hang on your rear-view mirror when you enter the park. I did the arithmetic once, and concluded that it’s not a bargain. You’d have to play in the parks pretty much EVERY weekend before it pays for itself. The National Parks used to offer a Lifetime Pass for senior citizens. I don’t think they offer than any more (or maybe they do but the price is exorbitant). I heard that they were going to cancel this just in time to buy myself one of these Lifetime Passes, so I can get into (most?) National Parks free forever. I believe that some of the most heavily used National Parks (like Yosemite or Yellowstone) are so overcrowded and congested that you now have to make advance reservations to go there. My late Big Brother told the story, from 40-some years ago, that he drove through Yosemite once. He found the traffic to be solid bumper-to-bumper, and the vaunted fresh mountain air was full of exhaust fumes. That was 40-some years ago.