There is growing evidence that spending time in or around water bodies or ‘blue spaces’ can result in improved human health. To date, investigations of the health-promoting potential of blue space exposure have mostly focused on coastal environments. Despite their vital role in many urban landscapes, freshwater blue spaces have received less research attention and very little is known about the potential of different freshwater blue space types to impact health and well-being. This study used logistic and negative binomial regression modelling to quantify the association between proximity and exposure to different freshwater blue space types and general health and mental well-being in Scotland. A nationwide online panel survey (n = 1392) was used to determine how far respondents lived from lakes, rivers and canals and to establish how often they visited these blue spaces. Living within a ten minute walking distance of lakes, rivers or canals was not associated with greater general health or mental well-being. However, frequently visiting rivers and canals but not lakes, in the last month, was associated with greater mental well-being. Frequent green space visitation, but not blue space visitation, was associated with higher odds of reporting good general health. Taken together, our findings suggest that freshwater blue space exposure can provide mental well-being benefits. However, the provision of these benefits may vary among different freshwater blue space types. Understanding the health and well-being impact of different freshwater environments, therefore, offers opportunities for evidence-based policymaking to maximise the health-promoting potential of urban blue spaces.

越来越多的证据表明，在水体或“蓝色空间”中或周围花费时间可以改善人类健康。迄今为止，对蓝色空间暴露的健康促进潜力的调查主要集中在沿海环境。尽管淡水蓝色空间在许多城市景观中发挥着至关重要的作用，但受到的研究关注较少，而且人们对不同淡水蓝色空间类型影响健康和福祉的潜力知之甚少。本研究使用逻辑和负二项式回归模型来量化苏格兰不同淡水蓝色空间类型的接近度和暴露与一般健康和心理健康之间的关联。一项全国性的在线小组调查（n = 1392) 用于确定受访者与湖泊、河流和运河的距离，并确定他们访问这些蓝色空间的频率。生活在距离湖泊、河流或运河仅 10 分钟步行距离之内，与更大的总体健康或心理健康无关。然而，上个月经常访问河流和运河而不是湖泊，与更好的心理健康有关。频繁的绿色空间访问，而不是蓝色空间访问，与报告总体健康状况良好的几率较高有关。总之，我们的研究结果表明，淡水蓝色空间暴露可以提供心理健康益处。然而，这些好处的提供可能因不同的淡水蓝色空间类型而异。因此，了解不同淡水环境对健康和福祉的影响，