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Nature can truly heal. A new study shows that garbage removal and the addition of trees to empty land have helped people feel happier and reduce the symptoms of depression.
In what is perhaps the first scientific study on the effects of public spaces on mental health. Philadelphia cleaned vacant lots of rubbish and "greened" others, mostly in low-income neighborhoods, and found that residents felt happier
"Doctors can treat depression, drugs and injuries.
The study, published Friday in the new open access journal of the American Medical Association, examined 541 vacant lots around Philadelphia. In a third, trees and grass were planted, and litter was removed from another third – but the others were not affected at all.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania spoke to 342 local residents several times. the three-year period of the cleaning study, from 2011 to 2014.
They found that residents of areas who had projects for greening or garbage removal reported a decreased feelings of depression by about 40 percent. In neighborhoods below the poverty line, the drop was 70%. The researchers also found a reduction in feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, and poor overall mental health.
Eugenia South, a doctor at the emergency department of the University of Pennsylvania Hospital and author of the study, said not to be surprised by the results
"This is further proof that people's lives have an impact on their health. " NBC News
Nearby lots that were not cleaned, the levels of depression remained the same or only slightly changed.
The positive effects on the mental health of the study can also change behavior and affect the community as a whole, said South. As an emergency physician, South regularly sees victims of gun violence and drug overdoses. "I'm probably overdosing every shift I work on," she said.
South wanted to research the root causes that bring so many people into the emergency room with weapon wounds and overdoses,
"This study shows that there are some simple things that we can do to get things moving, "she said.
She referred to a separate study, published in February, that analyzed criminal data in the same regions. reduction of armed violence, global crime and fear of crime.
"When the batches were cleaned, we found needles and condoms," she said. The Philadelphia Horticultural Society did the cleanings and came back every two weeks, except during the winter months, for maintenance, says South. study will resonate with physicia City and city officials work in the field of urbanism and public health and inspire other projects to clean public spaces. "Doctors can treat depression, drugs and injuries," she said. "But we have to look at what brings patients in the first place."
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