The proximity of woods, forests or green areas has a positive impact on our physical and mental health — that is hardly a secret. It is obvious that a walk in the woods cannot replace surgery or a session with a psychotherapist when one is needed, but it manages to dissolve stress, anxiety and irritability with an almost miraculous speed — you have to try it to believe it. Yet further confirmation comes from a new study, according to which people who live near trees and green areas are less likely to be obese, inactive, or dependent on antidepressants.

The most comprehensive study on the subject

The study, entitled Nature for health and equity, was published by the association Friends of the Earth Europe in collaboration with the Institute for european environmental policy (Ieep). A group of eleven Ieep researchers spent a year studying over two hundred scientific studies examining the link between physical and mental wellbeing and contact with nature, with the aim of producing the broadest and most comprehensive study on this subject.

If you live surrounded by greenery, you live longer and better

The study brought together various pieces of research focused on specific healing properties of nature, giving us a complete picture. A 2014 Scottish study, for example, found that men living in deprived areas characterised by large green spaces have a mortality rate 16 per cent lower than their counterparts living in urban areas. Meanwhile, pregnant women who live in greener environments have lower blood pressure and give birth to larger babies. Contact with nature would also help reduce allergies and increase self-esteem and mental wellbeing.

Further health benefits

In urban areas where trees are present, lower consumption of antidepressants is recorded compared to areas without them, while according to a Danish study obesity rates are higher among people living more than one kilometre from woods and parks than among those living less than 300 metres away. A study from 2015 funded by the European Union revealed that the presence of green areas near schools increases children's cognitive abilities. A US study found that hospital patients who can see a tree from their window are discharged one day earlier than those who have a view without trees.

Access to nature is not available to everyone

Contact with nature is therefore essential — after all, we are animals, we were born for this — yet it seems increasingly to be a privilege reserved for the few. Those who live in the poorest parts of large cities have fewer opportunities to access green areas and, consequently, fewer opportunities to engage in physical activity. An English study revealed that around 26 per cent of ethnic minorities in England visit natural environments fewer than three times a year.

We all need nature

"The study confirms once again that people and communities can only thrive when they have free access to nature," commented Robbie Blake, an activist with Friends of the Earth. "We all need nature in our lives; it gives us freedom and helps us live healthily." According to Patrick ten Brink, director of Ieep, the study should serve as a starting point on which to build a society that promotes access to nature. "We need to work together so that all Europeans have a green area within at least 300 metres of their homes within the next ten years."