Having trees as a neighbor would be beneficial for well-being and health and would reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Researchers from the University of Chicago (USA) questioned 31,109 residents of the city of Toronto (Canada) to study their levels of well-being. To establish a link between development and the environment, they took satellite photos of their place of residence. They wanted to observe the number of trees around them.
After taking into account risk factors such as age, income and level of education, scientists determined that living in the presence of at least ten trees in a city block would be enough to improve the state of perceived health. of its residents, and would reduce obesity, the risk of hypertension or hyperglycemia.
“The environment we live in has a big impact on the well-being of its residents, but also on health,” said Professor Lyle Palmer, who led the study.
“The benefit for the individual would be equivalent to an increase in the annual salary of around 9000 euros or even a saving of seven years of life”, affirms Omid Kardan, researcher at the University of Chicago, and main author of the ‘study.
“Urban planners should take this report into account in order to think of new green spaces for our cities, which consists in bringing, in the long term and durable, benefits for the public health” conclude the authors of the study.
The conclusions of this study confirm the results of a survey carried out by researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of Exeter, in the United Kingdom, published in 2014 in the scientific journal Environmental Science & Technology. She demonstrated that living near an urban area with green spaces is beneficial for mental health.
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