Green space keeps you from feeling blue

The more green space a neighborhood has, the happier the people are, a new study has revealed.

Dr. Kristen Malecki, assistant professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health said that the results are striking across neighborhoods of Wisconsin, from the North Woods to the cities, and higher levels of green space were associated with lower symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress.

The study, which combines mental-health data from the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW) and Landsat 5 satellite data from July 2009 that analyzed how much vegetation was present in each of the SHOW census blocks.

About 2,500 Wisconsin residents from 229 neighborhoods answered an assessment that asked them to rate their symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, and it was found that across all strata of society, people who lived in a neighborhood with less than 10 percent tree canopy were much more likely to report symptoms of depression, stress and anxiety.

The greening of neighborhoods could be a simple solution to reducing stress, and going outside will make one feel better, said Malecki.

The study was published recently in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.