- Growing up in greener surroundings can nearly reduce the risk of developing various mental disorders in adulthood by 55 percent
- Living in more green space creates greater //social cohesion and increases people's physical activity level and improves children's cognitive development
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The study, which is published today in the prestigious American Journal PNAS, shows that children surrounded by the high amounts of green space in childhood have up to a 55 percent lower risk of developing a mental disorder - even after adjusting for other known risk factors such as socio-economic status, urbanization, and the family history of mental disorders.
The Entire Childhood Must Be Green
Postdoc Kristine Engemann from Department of Bioscience and the National Centre for Register-based Research at Aarhus University, who spearheaded the study, says: "Our data is unique. We have had the opportunity to use a massive amount of data from Danish registers of, among other things, residential location and disease diagnoses and compare it with satellite images revealing the extent of green space surrounding each individual when growing up."
The research team know that, for example, noise, air pollution, infections and poor socio-economic conditions increase the risk of developing a mental disorder. Conversely, other studies have shown that more green space in the local area creates greater social cohesion and increases people's physical activity level and that it can improve children's cognitive development. These are all factors that may have an impact on people's mental health.
Green and Healthy Cities
Kristine Engemann says: "There is increasing evidence that the natural environment plays a larger role for mental health than previously thought. Our study is important in giving us a better understanding of its importance across the broader population."
This knowledge has important implications for sustainable urban planning. Not least because a larger and larger proportion of the world's population lives in cities.
"The coupling between mental health and access to green space in your local area is something that should be considered even more in urban planning to ensure greener and healthier cities and improve mental health of urban residents in the future," adds co-author Professor Jens-Christian Svenning from the Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University.
Source-Eurekalert