Does living near greenery mean a longer life?
Study finds trees, shrubs, plants are a key factor in women’s longevity
This holiday season you may want to skip the perfume and buy your loved ones a nice houseplant instead. Perhaps one of those giant bejeweled poinsettias? Apparently, women who live in close proximity to plants may live longer.
And did we mention that living near a forest also has been linked to better brain health? That’s what a recent German study, noted in Nature, has found. The researchers found that living near a forest had a positive impact on brain plasticity and particularly on the function of the amygdala, the part of the brain that regulates the stress of the fight-orflight response.
Basically there has been a mountain of research that suggests that humans thrive in a more natural environment.
Back to the women who live near the woods. In a study conducted by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, nature proved to be a key factor in longevity. The study looked at more than 108,630 women enrolled in the Nurse’s Health Study, a nationwide examination of risk factors
for major chronic diseases in women, from 2000 to 2008, as CNN reported.
The scientists found that the women living amid the greenest areas had as much as a 12 percent lower death rate than those living in the areas of least vegetation.
“We were surprised to see that there was a 12 percent lower rate of mortality,” said Peter James, study author and research associate at the Harvard Chan School’s Department of Epidemiology, as CNN reported. “We know already that vegetation can help mitigate the effect of climate change. Our study suggests the potential cobenefit for health.”
For the women living amid a lush green landscape, the rate of dying from respiratory illness was a whopping 34 percent lower. Cancer risk was cut by 13 percent. Let’s hear it for Mother Nature.
As the study’s lead author, James told The New York Times there are four factors in greener areas that explain the effects. There’s less air pollution, more physical activity, heightened social engagement and, perhaps most importantly, better mental health.
“This doesn’t mean you need to move to the country,” James said to the Times. “We found the associations within urban areas as well as rural areas. Any increased vegetation — more street trees, for example — seems to decrease mortality rates.”
You may never look at the shrubs outside your house the same way again.