Learn / Ask The Landscape Professional
A new study published in Environmental Health Perspectives concluded that green vegetation around your home not only improves your health, but causes you to live longer!
Answer
Many of you will remember about a year ago, I wrote about scientific studies that
showed that playing with soil in your garden actually made you happier and smarter
because of the effects of a harmless bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, commonly found
in soil. If that wasn't good enough, on April 14, 2016, a new study published in
Environmental Health Perspectives concluded that green vegetation around your home
not only improves your health, but causes you to live longer! The study, funded by
Harvard and the National Institute of Health and approved by Brigham and Woman's
Hospital in Boston, studied over 100,000 women between 2000 and 2008 across the entire
U.S. Their work found a direct connection between planting vegetation around your house
(within 800 ft) and improved health covering a wide range of illnesses and conditions.
The more green vegetation you have, the better. The exact mechanisms aren't completely
understood, but thought to be related to green spaces promoting more outside physical
activity, reducing carbon dioxide and noise exposure, enabling more social engagement and
improving mental health and well-being. The study found lower rates of cancer, respiratory
and kidney-disease related deaths that were independent of race or age. This study and
earlier studies by others have shown that "greenness" is linked to lower levels of
depression, anxiety and stress.
So, go play in your garden soil, plant things and have fun. You'll be happier,
smarter and you'll live longer too. What could be better than that!
View As PDF
To view a PDF of this article, please
click here.
About Linda Lillie
Linda K. Lillie is the President of Sprigs & Twigs, Inc, the premier
landscape design and maintenance, tree care, lawn care, stonework, and carpentry
service provider in southeastern Connecticut since 1997. She is a graduate of
Connecticut College in Botany, a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national
award winning landscape designer for her landscape design and landscape installation work.
