Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumScientists have discovered that living near trees is good for your health
Scientists have discovered that living near trees is good for your healthIn a new paper published Thursday, a team of researchers present a compelling case for why urban neighborhoods filled with trees are better for your physical health. The research appeared in the open access journal Scientific Reports.
The large study builds on a body of prior research showing the cognitive and psychological benefits of nature scenery but also goes farther in actually beginning to quantify just how much an addition of trees in a neighborhood enhances health outcomes. The researchers, led by psychologist Omid Kardan of the University of Chicago, were able to do so because they were working with a vast dataset of public, urban trees kept by the city of Toronto some 530,000 of them, categorized by species, location, and tree diameter supplemented by satellite measurements of non-public green space (for instance, trees in a persons back yard).
They also had the health records for over 30,000 Toronto residents, reporting not only individual self-perceptions of health but also heart conditions, prevalence of cancer, diabetes, mental health problems and much more.
Controlling for income, age and education, we found a significant independent effect of trees on the street on health, said Marc Berman, a co-author of the study and also a psychologist at the University of Chicago. It seemed like the effect was strongest for the public [trees]. Not to say the other trees dont have an impact, but we found stronger effects for the trees on the street.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)Trees give off oxygen which is important but also provide a sense of beauty. It you are having a stressful day, you are able to look out you deck and see beauty which includes the tree and may help lower blood pressure and other things.
cilla4progress
(24,802 posts)Might explain why my husband, self, and all our animals are so healthy for our ages!
We live out in the country bordering national forest - surrounded by trees, nature, wild lands.
We have a 16 1/2 year old dog that still bounds around here; a 12 1/2 year old dog - same. A horse lived to be 30 - healthy till he died. Hubby and I are 60 and we are on no meds, etc.
All I've been reading about the health effects of living close to nature applies to us - and we believe we are living examples of the benefits of it!
Cleita
(75,480 posts)house, but it's not the same. In the meantime, neighbors cut down a small woods on their property behind ours, for what reason, I don't know. I cried.
woodsprite
(11,941 posts)Ever since Sandy went through, another tree (or part of one) coming through our house is the very first thought on our minds. I don't think any of us ever thought of tree issues for the 11 years we lived in our house before that.
We were kinda freaked out last week. Returned home during a short (15 minutes) but intense wind/rain event and the top of our neighbor's tree was in our front yard. It missed our house (thankfully), and my son wasn't in the yard with the dog when it happened.
pscot
(21,024 posts)SamKnause
(13,114 posts)The birds love my numerous large cedar trees. (Especially in the winter)
None are close enough to my house to be a threat or to interfere with
the gutters catching my rainwater for the cistern.
I have so many different varieties of trees.
2 1/2 acres of forest.
The dead trees provide my firewood and kindling.
9 1/2 acres of farmland with trees in the front, back, and side yards.
Wildflowers of all colors and clover cover the fields.
The property is surrounded by trees on 3 sides.
I love where I live.
The deer, the turkeys, the birds, the butterflies, the bees, the rabbits. ( I hand reared 4 rabbits. I
fed them with a syringe. It was quite an experience.)
There is always something interesting to observe.
The only thing I do not like about the great outdoors is MOWING !
I HATE MOWING !