Live Near Green Spaces for Improved Health

A recent study has shown that people that live close to green areas are generally healthier than those that live in built up city environments.

Although there are both mental and physical health improvements from living closer to nature, the biggest improvements are in mental health, especially depression and anxiety disorders.

Children also respond very well to living in a more rural area, with 21% of kids less likely to be depressed when they can play in a park or woodland close to home.

“It clearly shows that green spaces are not just a luxury but they relate directly to diseases and the way people feel in their living environments. Most of the diseases which are related to green spaces are diseases which are highly prevalent and costly to treat so policy makers need to realise that this is something they may be able to diminish with green spaces.” Researcher, Dr Jolanda Maas of the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam.

The main conditions that are improved when people live closer to nature are:

• Coronary heart disease
• Neck, shoulder, back, wrist and hand complaints
• Depression and anxiety
• Diabetes
• Respiratory infections and asthma
• Migraine and vertigo
• Stomach bugs and urinary tract infections
• Unexplained physical symptoms

The research was published in the The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health

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Tags: anxiety, children, depression, environment, green spaces, Health, Mental Health, rural

This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.