How nature can significantly improve our mental health

Our mental health is often perceived as a mystery. A happy mood can inexplicably give way to sad or frightening thoughts. While we can try to manage our emotional well-being through such means as speech therapy, personal care management applications, meditation, and medication, it is easy to feel that contentment remains beyond our reach.

Yet, scientific research suggests that we neglect a critical factor for optimal mental health: nature.

You can skeptically complain that parks and plants make a real difference in our happiness, but the research is compelling. A pile of studies on the subject consistently highlights a close connection between green spaces and mental health. In general, scientists believe that experiments in "green spaces" can improve mental health by improving the immune system, encouraging physical activity and social interactions, limiting air pollution and the noise that hinders reflection and restoring calm in the frantic mind.

Take a study published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencess. The researchers used data from the Danish health registries for more than 940,000 children born between 1985 and 2003, and analyzed their mental health outcomes in concert with the surrounding green spaces. They found that the relative risk of developing a psychiatric disorder in adolescence or in adulthood was significantly higher – by 15 to 55% – for those surrounded by the least green space.

Even when researchers took into account the age and socioeconomic status of parents, family history of mental health, urbanization and municipal socio-economic factors (average income, education and unemployment in the place of residence of the family). child), green spaces continued to have a protective effect on mental health. health. The strongest association between exposure to green spaces and the increased risk of developing a psychiatric disorder occurred among those who lived in downtown Copenhagen, while the lowest was has been demonstrated in rural Denmark.

The study does not answer certain questions, especially if people with a higher genetic risk of mental illness would be more inclined to choose denser urban areas or if unmeasured socio-economic factors, such as crime and lower quality green spaces could play a role. in mental health outcomes. But this research leads us to think again about how exposure to nature in urban settings could improve or hinder our mental health – and what we plan to do about it.

Kathleen Wolf, social scientist at the University of Washington School of Environmental & Forest Sciences, did not participate in the PNAS Research, believes that this study and others like it prove that it is necessary to take green spaces seriously in cities to improve the quality of life and well-being of every day.

"Can we, through urban greening and other interventions, relieve pain and suffering before they happen?"

Some might think that trees and gardens are "nice things to build" around us, says Wolf. But she sees meetings with green spaces and nature as opportunities to prevent or reduce mental illness.

"Can we, through urban greening and other interventions, relieve pain and suffering before they happen?" Wolf said.

It's a bold vision that could give the impression that green space is a panacea for everything that touches us, but Wolf is more realistic than that. She knows that greening alone will not prevent all mental health problems, but she is also convinced that the design of public spaces, workplaces, schools and schools parks around green spaces could significantly improve the quality of life and emotional well-being of people. Scientific research, she says, suggests that living in urban environments helps people recover from the constant stress of low urban living.

Although the importance of green spaces for mental health can sometimes become a hot topic, thanks in part to scientific studies, it can not be compared to the popularity of talking about personal care or meditation. Indeed, each hobby can be customized by each individual (and commodified) with apps, workshops and courses.

Getting more green space, on the other hand, can be a problem of bureaucracy or logistics. You need to know who decides on the design of the parks in your city or the use of public transport to access green spaces, a particularly stressful exercise for city dwellers with little time or income. Sometimes, according to Wolf, decision-makers and managers install parks, trees or other green spaces in communities without engaging residents to learn what types of elements would be practical, practical and meaningful from the point of view cultural.

Tools like therapy and medications can be expensive, but they are also essential for mental health. And given the barriers to creating and accessing green spaces, it's no wonder that people see them as one of the only options for managing their well-being.

According to evidence on the link between nature and public health, Dr. Wolf said that city planning professionals should develop greening policies and programs so everyone can access to the close nature. She believes that these characteristics should be just as important in urban planning as transport and housing.

Another study highlighting the link between green spaces and mental health is a timely opportunity to recall that individuals are not solely responsible for improving their emotional and psychological well-being. Those who plan the roads, parks, schools and office buildings around us also play an important, albeit indirect, role as guardians of our mental health. And we should feel empowered to fight for our mental health by demanding what we deserve: green spaces that can help everyone prosper.