Living Near Trees, Not Just Green Space, Improves Wellbeing

Unsurprising result.<p>I was so sad (figuratively speaking) when we moved from an older office - but one which had trees all around and even running water - to a very modern, but boring open floor glass paned antfarm-like building.<p>After some time I got literally depressed. Walking around the concreted block did nothing for me anymore. No trees, no water, no birds, no squirrels. Just cars and a lot of heat in the summer - and a lot of wind during the winter.

Living near trees implies living in an area where space usage is prioritized for nature instead of the stacked concrete boxes most people (have to?) live in. It is likely a less stressful environment overall than places filled with just concrete walls, asphalt and, at best, some grass.<p>Personally I find tree tops swaying in the wind oddly hypnotic and relaxing. I&#x27;ve thought of why... One reason could be that babies around here are (like I was) put into baby trolleys to sleep outside, summer and winter. If living near trees, chances are that tree tops are the last thing one sees before sleep and the first thing when one wakes up.

Can we get a title change from &quot;Improves&quot; to &quot;Associated With?&quot; The causal affect is mentioned nowhere but the (incorrect) title. All of the content and quotes from the authors use &quot;associated with.&quot;

Not surprising. As someone who grew up in rural and suburban environments, big cities feel intensely depressing. I go there and nothing I look at makes me feel happy. I&#x27;m sure people who grew up there feel differently and see things I don&#x27;t see, but for me Manhattan feels as dead as the surface of Mars.

This is another study that makes me wonder what the real cause may be. Areas with trees, in an urban setting, tend to be more expensive locations. So, is it the the trees, or the higher socio-economic status?<p>In suburban and rural areas where trees are more common, even if the cost of living is low, everything is less dense, people tend to have larger dwellings at lower prices, etc. So, again, is it the trees or the other covarying factors?<p>Are there any studies like this that transform an area into a green space (with trees, I suppose) and show pre&#x2F;post outcomes? Ones that weren&#x27;t driven by the community? (Where that could indicate it was simply a nicer more cohesive community, with that as the cause instead of the green stuff)<p>That said, this is the sort of result that <i>feels</i> like it should be true, but then those are the results we should most be thorough about our methods to avoid confirmation bias. Research is hard!

&quot;Exposure to grass was, surprisingly, associated with higher odds of psychological distress.&quot;<p>I&#x27;m guessing it&#x27;s the constant maintenance of a lawn that stresses people, and in this case, other people&#x27;s lawns. That or you&#x27;re a youtuber or streamer, and the constant sound of lawn equipment is driving you nuts.

There is a tree directly outside of the window right next to my bed. In the morning, I watch the variety of birds (changing with the seasons) flit around the branches, socializing with each other. It&#x27;s simple, but a highlight of my day. I&#x27;m moving in a few weeks and this tree will be one of the things I miss most about my apartment.

I live in Sheffield, which is about as green as cities get in the UK. I try and walk every day - you can walk from my front door through woods all the way into the Peak District and stand a good chance of not seeing more than a couple of souls. Lately my son has started joining me and honestly, it’s just the most nourishing part of my life at the moment. I am not sure I could survive on the huddled trees and pruned green rectangles disbursed throughout somewhere like London, and even the more extensive parks just don’t feel real to me.

The article is: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jamanetwork.com&#x2F;journals&#x2F;jamanetworkopen&#x2F;fullarticle&#x2F;2739050" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jamanetwork.com&#x2F;journals&#x2F;jamanetworkopen&#x2F;fullarticle...</a><p>As a correlational study, and as with any study like this I&#x27;m worried that something they&#x27;re not controlling for, or not sufficiently controlling for, is the actual cause. They say:<p><i>&gt; Self-rated health, depression, anxiety, and risk of psychological distress have been previously shown to be associated with green space in some cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. A range of socioeconomic and demographic factors are likely to confound these associations by contributing to mental health outcomes and to neighborhood selection. Previous research suggests that these factors are likely to include personal socioeconomic circumstances, such as how much money people have, whether they are employed, and their level of education, and other factors, such as age, sex, and relationship status. Accordingly, in this study, we adjusted for baseline measures of age, sex, annual household income, economic status (eg, employed, retired, or unemployed), highest educational qualification, and couple status.</i><p>There are a lot of measures that affect human wellbeing that this doesn&#x27;t take into account, however. For example, wealth and class aren&#x27;t present. I understand why it would be hard for them to adjust for everything, but that also makes the study much less predictive.<p>I wonder if there are any natural experiments we could look at where blights or storms that caused sudden reductions in tree cover in a mostly independent fashion?

A well-known refrain, I know, but correlation does not imply causation[0].<p>Spurious Correlations[1] has been posted here many times[2], but a few representative examples may be worth sharing just the same:<p><i>Per capita cheese consumption</i> correlates with <i>Number of people who died by becoming tangled in their bedsheets</i><p><i>Total revenue generated by arcades</i> correlates with <i>Computer science doctorates awarded in the US</i><p><i>Japanese passenger cars sold in the US</i> correlates with <i>Suicides by crashing of motor vehicle</i><p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Correlation_does_not_imply_causation" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Correlation_does_not_imply_cau...</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.tylervigen.com&#x2F;spurious-correlations" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.tylervigen.com&#x2F;spurious-correlations</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hn.algolia.com&#x2F;?query=spurious%20correlations&amp;sort=byPopularity&amp;prefix&amp;page=0&amp;dateRange=all&amp;type=story" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hn.algolia.com&#x2F;?query=spurious%20correlations&amp;sort=b...</a>

One of the reasons I love Berlin. City. With LOTS and LOTS of trees.

Actual study: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jamanetwork.com&#x2F;journals&#x2F;jamanetworkopen&#x2F;fullarticle&#x2F;2739050?resultClick=3" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jamanetwork.com&#x2F;journals&#x2F;jamanetworkopen&#x2F;fullarticle...</a>

We specifically moved to a part of Boston with lots of trees. All the benefits of public transit, nightlife, and resources, but as I look out my home-office window right now, I see a big tree, a dog park, and very small forest of trees right behind that. I can&#x27;t see another building, and its wonderful.

I moved to place with trees. Paid extra for that. After a year in, the forest died due to drought (and bugs). Now I&#x27;m looking at forest being cut down and removed. It&#x27;s quite miserable feeling.

I think its something to do with the complex, fractal imagery provided by trees etc. The simple planar surfaces of built spaces are profoundly unstimulating.

&quot;Exposure to grass was, surprisingly, associated with higher odds of psychological distress.&quot;<p>Anyone who has had to maintain a lawn will likely find this unsurprising.

In 2008, I was living in Central Pennsylvania, taking many a weekend hike along a short section of the Appalachian trail that ran within a short drive from my home. Then I got assigned to a project in Bloomington, Illinois. I spent a month out there, this strange land completely devoid of trees. I never thought of myself as an &quot;outdoors&quot; person before that, I just liked hanging out with some friends and getting a little exercise. After Bloomington, I realized just how important trees were to my mental health.

What are some great cities with surrounding nature for software engineers?<p>I was looking at Atlanta, GA which I heard has the most trees for a city.<p>According to Wikipedia, it has 47.9% tree coverage

I think of high contrast areas as having the strongest mood boosting. By that I mean river fronts, visible mountain ranges, the beach, the edges of forests. No doubt trees in cities are visually pleasing, living in the middle of dark dense forest not so much.<p>&#x27;round these parts, trees seem to perform two useful functions. They fall on houses during storms (quite common) or they burn down whole towns. Be careful what you wish for.

It&#x27;s a bizarre, comical state when obvious things such as this (and similar posts like &quot;Climate change will cause a financial crisis!&quot;) have to be explicitly spelled out and backed with &quot;data.&quot;<p>That said, modern civilization, technology and &quot;nature&quot; don&#x27;t have to be mutually exclusive.<p>See Japan, Switzerland, Singapore and similar places where there is plenty of unspoiled&#x2F;augmented nature right next to some of the most modern&#x2F;luxurious human habitats in the world.<p>The ideal balance would be something like the sci-fi&#x27;ish concept of arcologies [0]; monolithic, self-sufficient, clean megastructures surrounded by natural wildernesses for people to escape to at their leisure.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Arcology" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Arcology</a>

I wonder if green space and trees still improve well being if someone is allergic to them (not deathly so, just enough to be a nuisance). I myself am especially allergic to the flora around me, and I always dream of moving somewhere cold where everything is nice and dead and can&#x27;t hurt me.

I moved to another city because the mayor of the previous city I lived in had some crusade against trees in that town.<p>Living near trees is the best. I have a cherry tree growing outside my window right now. Still miss the three poplars I used to have at my old apartment.

We recently moved to an apartment that is front facing the street with trees that you can see through the windows, and might be obvious but we&#x27;re usually in much better mood than before, I think it&#x27;s important to consider these things. The vibe of having a bit of nature and natural light changes things completely, might even inspire you to create more things. We used to live in apartments that were mostly surrounded by concrete and it was honestly a bit depressing. I suggest that if you have the opportunity, even if you have to pay a bit more, try to go for it, the quality of life improves tremendously.

Could this be caused by a deeply ingrained instinct from our hominid ancestors that associates trees with safety? Like Miles stated, correlation doesn&#x27;t imply causation. It makes you think though!

It&#x27;s not necessarily related to why living near trees improves well being, but I like the idea of Shinrin Yoku, or &quot;forest bathing&quot;: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.webmd.com&#x2F;balance&#x2F;news&#x2F;20190611&#x2F;forest-bathing-nature-time-hot-health-advice" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.webmd.com&#x2F;balance&#x2F;news&#x2F;20190611&#x2F;forest-bathing-n...</a><p>Nice youtube mini-documentary:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=9jPNll1Ccn0" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=9jPNll1Ccn0</a>

I’ve noticed that there is always a lack of trees in impoverished areas. It almost seems like the trees are deliberately cut down in favor of concrete in areas designated.

Years ago, I went to a photography exhibition. Theme was the city. The artist&#x27;s motivation was the idea that we - humans - live in a mineral world (cement, concrete, glass and bricks) now. But we evolved to live and prosper in high grass and trees, in an organic world.<p>Also, long ago I read that humans liked to sit on benches in park because it feels like we are hiding in the edge of the forests, looking for things from a safe distant place.

Reminds me of a public library in Hillsboro. Surrounded by trees, the place was a heaven of peace to work. It also had a coffee shop.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.hillsboro-oregon.gov&#x2F;departments&#x2F;library" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.hillsboro-oregon.gov&#x2F;departments&#x2F;library</a>

Interested if places with evergreen trees (e.g. PNW) fair better than areas with mostly deciduous trees?

Do Bonsai trees count?

My favorite part is the anti-NIMBY culture that usually dominates here is experiencing cognitive dissonance right now and they don&#x27;t even know it.<p>Bring up housing in SF and the people complaining about no trees right now are suddenly shuffling everyone into tiny uniform boxes.

The article mentions Overstory by Richard Powers<p>It&#x27;s an amazing book.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Overstory-Novel-Richard-Powers&#x2F;dp&#x2F;039363552X#customerReviews" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Overstory-Novel-Richard-Powers&#x2F;dp&#x2F;039...</a>

I moved earlier this summer. My home office is situated in front of huge bay windows looking out into the canopy of a forest of 120 foot maple trees that my house is in. It has made a huge difference, especially when I&#x27;m doing tedious programming work.

Possibly related to the Biophilia Hypothesis [0].<p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Biophilia_hypothesis" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Biophilia_hypothesis</a>

This finding fits in with other research that trees absorb fine particulate matter (PM 2.5). PM 2.5 is a hazardous air pollution from burning coal and many other sources.

So living in a desert should be correlated with psychological distress, right? Is that the case?

I bet living outside the city would improve wellbeing even more. At least it did for me.

&gt; <i>New research finds that, when a neighborhood’s green space leads to better health outcomes, tree canopy provides most of the benefits.</i><p>Is it the trees? Or is it the higher income status of the people who can afford to live in the nicer neighborhood?<p>Complete lack of control for irrelevant variables here.

&quot;Tolkien was an unabashed partisan of trees&quot;. Hear hear

I wish I could go live in Bhutan.

yeah, no shit... who would&#x27;e thought. like homo sapiens ain&#x27;t an animal.

Until a massive ice storm causes one of those trees to fall on your house.

yeah, it feels good

I hate when journalists confuse correlation with causation. It&#x27;s one of the most basic things you have to know to be be capable of writing about science and the fact that they failed the first step tells me they shouldn&#x27;t be journalists.