Study Finds Living Near Trees, Not Just Green Space, Improves Wellbeing (citylab.com) 88
According to a new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open, living in neighborhoods with leafy trees is linked to higher levels of wellness. The study found that not all green spaces are created equal, as leafy trees promote higher levels of wellness than abundant green space. CityLab reports: [The researchers] describe a large-scale longitudinal study featuring 46,786 mostly older residents of three Australian urban areas. The subjects were initially interviewed between 2006 and 2009; follow-up reports were taken between 2012 and 2015. At both points, participants were asked to rate their overall health, and noted whether they have ever been diagnosed with, or treated for, anxiety or depression. In addition, they completed a 10-item questionnaire designed to measure their risk of psychological distress. Among other items, they noted how often in recent weeks they had felt "hopeless, rigid, or fidgety," "so sad that nothing could cheer you up," or "worthless." Researchers compared the participants' answers to the natural features of the "mesh block" where their home is located (a geographical unit containing 30 to 60 dwellings). Using satellite imagery, the team calculated both the percentage of total green space and "separate green space types, including tree canopy, grass, or other low-lying vegetation."
After taking into account such variables as the participants' age, gender, education, and household income, the researchers were able to confirm the results of previous studies, finding that "total green space appeared to be associated with lower odds of incident psychological distress." More intriguingly, they also found that exposure to low-lying vegetation was not consistently associated with any particular health outcome. Exposure to grass was, surprisingly, associated with higher odds of psychological distress. The wellness-boosting feature, then, appears to be the trees. The researchers report that living in areas where 30 percent or more of the outdoor space is dominated by tree canopy was associated with 31 percent lower odds of psychological distress, compared to people living in areas with 0 to 9 percent tree canopy. "Similar results were found for self-related fair to poor general health," with tree-rich residents reporting better health overall, the researchers write.
After taking into account such variables as the participants' age, gender, education, and household income, the researchers were able to confirm the results of previous studies, finding that "total green space appeared to be associated with lower odds of incident psychological distress." More intriguingly, they also found that exposure to low-lying vegetation was not consistently associated with any particular health outcome. Exposure to grass was, surprisingly, associated with higher odds of psychological distress. The wellness-boosting feature, then, appears to be the trees. The researchers report that living in areas where 30 percent or more of the outdoor space is dominated by tree canopy was associated with 31 percent lower odds of psychological distress, compared to people living in areas with 0 to 9 percent tree canopy. "Similar results were found for self-related fair to poor general health," with tree-rich residents reporting better health overall, the researchers write.
Country Folk 1 City Dwellers 0 (Score:3, Insightful)
Green, healthy, just all around good.
Smog ridden, concrete covered, crime ridden, city dwellers...rage against the machine...
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Except in the country where they cut all trees within a mile of the last home and planed bushes instead, in a vain effort to 'landscape' it 'better' than Mother Nature, with the net result that I, while living in a smog-ridden, concrete-covered and crime-ridden city see trees more often than them.
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Only thing bad about grass is that it inevitably causes homeowners to think about how long it's been since they mowed their yard....
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Once upon a time I lived in a place where everyone did the "yard" thing. Every spring I always let the dandelions and violets grow out (up until the dandelions started going to seed); their presence was seen by neighbors as an "untidy yard". What sort of person hates flowers? I found it baffling. You're supposed to want to have a featureless, unnaturally-green carpet around your house.
It's really different out in the countryside. My main challenges are an endless battle with hurricane-force winds in the
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Re:No shit. (Score:5, Informative)
Dandelions are a great looking flower. On top of it, every part of it is edible, and if you've got a scratch for making your own wines? Dandelion wine is easy to make, and depending either tastes great or terrible...like most wines.
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The flower isn't bad, but the rest of the plant is ugly.
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True like most flowering plants, good example? Roses. Smell wonderful, look pretty, thorns will eat your hands for breakfast. Also, you can eat most types of rose petals, and collect the rose hips in the fall to make tea's which are quite good.
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They're beautiful, and it is one of the first food plants humans learned to plant.
Hating dandelions is like hating the sun, or hating rain. It is just unnatural. Inhuman.
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No, neighbors' sheep. But sheep don't care about concepts of ownership; they go wherever they want.
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Seriously though, around where I grew up, if you warn the neighbors a couple times, and the animals keep coming, then they are fair game.
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Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Which Surprises Precisely NO ONE. (Score:1, Offtopic)
People like living in the forest, to the point that they refuse to clear defensible space around their homes in the woods - leading to them LOSING their homes in the inevitable forest fires.
Trees (Score:5, Interesting)
Makes perfect sense to me (Score:3)
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There is a park I like to visit with a hill and forest, there's a freeway across the way so there are lots of car noises in addition to all the birds, but it still feels really nice to be in the forest. The natural noises are effective at altering mood even when you're still in the city.
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I'd think there'd be more oxygen and less CO2.
The biggest impact on your daily CO2 is the amount of ventilation, not trees in your neighbourhood.
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2. I'm not really talking about 'landscaped trees in your neighborhood', I'm talking about 'wooded areas' like a forest, where the flora is dense -- although having lots of nice big mature trees in your neighborhood isn't a bad thing in any case.
They think living near trees is great??? (Score:2)
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I mulch them. I wait until there's a lot of leaves and then mulch them with the mower, going over the yard twice in perpendicular directions.
Then I throw the bagger on and vacuum up the excess. You get a lot of the leaves picked up with little effort but a lot of it stays as ground mulch on the lawn.
Arboreal Locomotion (Score:3)
Humans descend from bonobos -- who live in and move amongst trees. It'd make sense that if they're not near trees, they'd feel anxiety. Furthermore, who knows what kind of threats, like snakes, lurk amongst the tall grass; better keep clear of that.
Humans presumably retained some of those instincts, despite not relying nearly as much on trees; perhaps being in the open too far from trees left us vulnerable to threats that can't climb, leaving the anxiety intact.
I'm assuming ... (Score:3)
Causation! (Score:2)
We got trees (Score:1)
What about tree wallpaper? (Score:2)
Monotony (Score:2)
It's the epidemic of modern design, architecture and city planning where everything has to be pristine, flat, uniform, lifeless, giant glass dildos.
Monotony (Score:2)
It's the epidemic of modern design, architecture and city planning where everything has to be pristine, flat and uniform, whether it's flat grass areas or giant glass dildos everywhere.
It may look good from the outside as a scale model and a snazzy presentation 3D mock up, but people have to actually walk through it at street level. Fucking architects.
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Quite a few Australian cities have trees on the footpaths, even amongst the (few) skyscrapers. It's certainly common in the suburbs. When I bought my house it was surrounded by white sand and weeds. Now, almost 17 years later, it's got soil, trees and tall shrubs. And LOTS of birds.
And this research focussed on living places, not working places. Most Aussies live in suburbs, though density is increasing.
To the commentor who pointed out that older people tend to be home-owners and not apartment dwellers?
"Aft
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If you're thinking of London, it's really more of a butt-plug than a dildo.
Sure (Score:2)
Being an old fart with an enlarged prostate, I'm also less fidgety if there's always a tree or two around when I have to pee.
Sorry for the oversharing.
Unsurprising (Score:2)
"Exposure to grass was, surprisingly, associated with higher odds of psychological distress" ...which is unsurprising to anyone trying to keep their lawn looking decent.
What if then? (Score:2)
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