A recent study found that visiting green spaces, parks and gardens, can significantly reduce the use of mental health drugs.
The study shows that being in a public park or other large cultivated area between 3 to 4 times a week leads to a reduction in the chances of needing to take anxiety or depression medications by a third.
Improve physical health when visiting green spaces
The positive impact of visiting parks and gardens also extends to physical health, according to researchers at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.
It is likely that the growing scientific evidence supporting health benefits from exposure to nature will increase the provision of high-quality green spaces in urban environments and promote their active use, the researchers say, noting that this finding may be one way to improve health and well-being in cities.
Why green spaces are good for mental health?
More than half of the world’s population lives in cities, and by 2030, the United Nations estimates that this number will rise to 60% of the world’s population, and 1 in 3 people will live in a city with a population of more than half a million.
But a growing body of research suggests that lack of access to nature has a detrimental effect on physical and mental health.
Finnish researchers collected data from more than 15,000 residents of Helsinki and its surrounding areas, and asked them regarding how often they visited green spaces, including not just forests and parks, but wetlands, zoos and also blue areas, such as lakes.
The researchers also collected information from the respondents regarding how many prescription medications they took, and this was used as a general indicator of mental and physical health.
The connection between nature and mental health
The association between spending time in nature and drug use was stark, with the study revealing that people who visited a green space 3 or 4 times a week were 33% less likely to use mental health drugs and 26% less likely to use asthma medication.
The importance of green spaces for the planet
Green spaces are one of the most beneficial factors for human health in general, in addition to being a great benefit to the planet, in addition to helping cities adapt to high temperatures.
In urban areas, where concrete and asphalt absorb sunlight, summer temperatures can rise up to 10 degrees higher than in surrounding rural areas, as trees in green spaces provide shade and release cooling moisture into the air.
