A MENTAL health charity is urging York residents to get outdoors - because "being green beats the blues".

Volunteers and staff at York And District Mind took part in kite flying on Knavesmire to promote a new report that found "ecotherapy" could reduce depression.

The report, Ecotherapy: The Green Agenda For Mental Health, calls for getting outdoors to be recognised as a clinically valid treatment for mental health problems. Evidence shows some depression sufferers benefit as much from green exercise such as cycling, walking and running or gardening, as they would from anti- depressants.

Mind conducted a survey which showed 71 per cent of people reported that depression decreased after a walk in a green area compared with 22 per cent after an urban walk.

The advice coincides with prescriptions for anti-depressants being at an all-time high, with more than 31 million written in 2006 - a rise of six per cent on the previous year.

"The irony is that depression has also increased," said John Burgess, of Mind in York. He pointed out some anti-depressant pharmaceuticals were not solving the problem.

"Outdoor exercise is one of the things that really does help depression," said Mr Burgess.

Dorothy Spice, a Primary Care Trust mental health worker in York, said nationally one-in-four people suffered from mental health problems at some point in their lives, equating to approximately 45,000 in York, with anxiety and depression being the most common illnesses.