Nature needs to be brought as close to people’s daily lives as possible, even in the city.
Living near trees may reduce the need for antidepressants.
Urban trees within 100 metres of people’s homes are particularly beneficial for the mental health of people on lower incomes.
The species of tree did not appear to matter, as all trees were linked to lower antidepressant prescription rates among nearby residents.
Other research has also suggested that along with trees, more birds and shrubs in an area are linked to lower levels of depression.
Dr Melissa Marselle, the study’s first author, said:
“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,.
This is good news because street trees are relatively easy to achieve and their number can be increased without much planning effort.
Street trees should be planted equally in residential areas to ensure those who are socially disadvantaged have equal access to receive its health benefits.”
The findings suggest that nature should be brought as close as possible to people’s everyday lives, even in urban environments.
Dr Diana Bowler, study co-author, said:
“Our study shows that everyday nature close to home — the biodiversity you see out of the window or when walking or driving to work, school or shopping — is important for mental health.”
Professor Aletta Bonn, a co-author of the study, said that while large parks are valuable, smaller-scale nature can be just as beneficial:
“We propose that adding street trees in residential urban areas is a nature-based solution that may not only promote mental health, but can also contribute to climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation.
To create these synergy effects, you don’t even need large-scale expensive parks: more trees along the streets will do the trick.
And that’s a relatively inexpensive measure.”
Related
The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports (Marselle et al., 2020).
