There's a Curious Effect Urban Trees Might Have on Depression, Study Finds
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There's a Curious Effect Urban Trees Might Have on Depression, Study Finds:
There's already a long list of reasons to like trees, we know. Warding off depression could be the latest entry on that list, based on a study of 9,751 residents in Leipzig, Germany.
For a more consistent measure, researchers used antidepressant prescriptions rather than self-reporting to gauge the mental health of communities, and then cross-referenced these statistics with the numbers of street trees in each area.
They reported that more local foliage within 100 metres (328 feet) of the home was associated with a reduced likelihood of being prescribed antidepressants - findings that could be very useful indeed for city planners, health professionals, and governments.
The reduction in antidepressant use linked to street trees was particularly prominent in socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. While it's important not to take such findings too far, the results do hint that urban trees could act as a simple and affordable way of boosting mental health and assist in closing health inequality gaps across society.
"Our finding suggests that street trees - a small scale, publicly accessible form of urban greenspace - can help close the gap in health inequalities between economically different social groups," says environmental psychologist Melissa Marselle from De Montfort University in the UK.
[...] While the study has its limitations - not all depressed people are on antidepressants, for example, and there might be other factors at play affecting mental health - the stats show enough of a relationship to suggest that simply having street trees around is enough to improve the mood of an area as people go about their daily lives.
Journal Reference:
Melissa R. Marselle, Diana E. Bowler, Jan Watzema, et al. Urban street tree biodiversity and antidepressant prescriptions [open], Scientific Reports (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-79924-5)
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