The “Green Effect”: Nature Makes Us Healthier and Happier
Like many eco-minded moms, I recently read Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods and came away with a firm belief that human beings need, on a basic, primal level, the therapeutic value of an ongoing relationship with nature.
It appears that the science agrees: studies have concluded that overall health can be predicted by how many green spaces exist in a one-mile or three-mile radius; children with ADHD concentrate better after being in a park than in an urban setting; college students test better when their room offers a view of nature; the elderly live longer when they have ready access to natural settings.
Interestingly, the opposite appears to also hold true. According to Frances Kuo, a professor at the University of Illinois,
“Humans living in landscapes that lack trees or other natural features undergo patterns of social, psychological and physical breakdown that are strikingly similar to those observed in other animals that have been deprived of their natural habitat. In animals what you see is increased aggression, disrupted parenting patterns, and disrupted social hierarchies.”
