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Does being close to green land really make people happier and healthier? Are we worth paying more for the green? The study of green environment and psychology may provide answers to the above questions.
Green environment and human cognition
When it comes to the influence of green environment on human cognition, we have to mention the theory of attention recovery. After a long period of mental work, people will feel tired and unable to concentrate on certain things, especially those that require high intellectual activities, such as playing Go and reading professional books. But we can easily notice other things, such as birds outside the window and a landscape painting on the wall. This is because we have two different attention systems: one is called intentional attention, which means that we must pay attention to something consciously, and this kind of attention will make people tired; The other is unintentional attention, that is, some things in the environment can attract us without our will, such as strange, moving, dazzling and beautiful things.
When people use the unintentional attention system, the intentional attention system can get a rest. According to this theory, the natural environment can help our attention function work well, because it can activate our unintentional attention system, thus giving the intentional attention system time to recover. In many studies, the natural environment is defined as a space with green plants.
Researchers have found that if people's leisure activities are carried out more in the natural environment, their attention function will be better protected. Engaging in activities related to the natural environment can promote the health of attention function, while watching TV, shopping and other leisure activities are of little help to attention function. Therefore, being in the natural environment after work is more relaxing.
Other studies have found that people with attention deficit can also benefit from green space. Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign conducted a series of experiments to support this view. They found that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can relieve their symptoms by exercising in a green environment.
First, the researchers conducted a survey on children's parents, asking their parents to report which activities promoted their children's diseases better and which activities made them worse. It is found that the former is mainly carried out in outdoor green environment, while the latter is usually carried out in indoor or non-green outdoor environment. Then, after a nationwide survey, it is found that if these children's leisure activities (such as reading or playing) are carried out in a green outdoor environment, their symptoms will be improved.
The latest research is to let these children walk in different environments: parks, near their own communities, and quieter urban areas. The difference between these three places lies in the coverage of green plants. Finally, it was found that the symptoms of these children with attention deficit improved most obviously after walking in the park.
In addition, the green environment can also enhance our memory. In one study, the researchers randomly divided the participants into two groups. Both groups have to complete a memory task: retell a series of random numbers provided by researchers in reverse order, and measure the short-term memory capacity by the length of repeated numbers. This is a reverse number breadth test. After finishing this task, the two groups will go out for a walk. One group goes to the botanical garden, and the other group goes to the busy commercial street. These two types of people are positioned by GPS to ensure that the route they take meets the requirements. After the walk, everyone has to take the previous memory span task test again. It was found that the short-term memory capacity of people walking in the botanical garden increased by 20%. Then the researchers did another experiment. In this experiment, participants no longer need to go out, but let the first group look at some pictures of natural scenery on the computer, and the second group look at pictures of urban environment. Other than that, this experiment is exactly the same as before. The results show that looking at pictures of natural scenery can not improve memory like walking in botanical gardens, but it is still better than looking at pictures of urban environment. Researchers believe that the green natural environment has a meditation-like effect, which can make our cognitive ability rest and recover, thus making us perform better in cognition.
Green environment and interpersonal relationship
From "individuals" to "people", scientists have found that there is also a connection between the green environment and interpersonal relationships. If more trees or other green vegetation are planted in the public space of the community, it will help people to establish good neighborhood relations.
A study conducted in the public residential area of Chicago, USA, found that with the increase of trees and grasslands, residents' familiarity with their neighbors and the frequency of communication with them increased, and their sense of community identity became stronger, making them feel safer and more comfortable. This study urges the local government to consider the area of green space when building residential areas for these low-income people. In fact, the investment in this area has reduced the investment in many other areas, such as public security.
In addition, the researchers also looked at Chicago's crime statistics. They found that the crime rate was higher in areas with poor greening.
Maybe you will question that the area with high greening degree may only be the area where people with high education and economic level live, so the greening degree is not the main factor. But the fact is that this result has ruled out the possible influence of other factors, including education and economic level. Other things being equal, places with more trees and grasslands are less likely to commit crimes. Researchers believe that about 7% of the regional differences in crime rate can be attributed to the differences in the number of trees in different regions.
Green environment and mental health
Researchers from the University of Exeter in England analyzed the file data of 10000 British urban residents during the period of 18 to explore the relationship between happiness and green environment. Researchers survey the happiness data of these residents every year. On the one hand, they investigate their overall satisfaction with life as a positive indicator of happiness; On the other hand, their psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety were investigated as negative indicators.
So, how to calculate the green degree of everyone's living environment? This is determined according to the size of the green space where everyone lives. Based on this, researchers can calculate the relationship between the happiness of these residents and the green space.
In order to avoid the influence of other factors, they made a statistical balance of personal information such as income level, work and marital status, health status, transportation and residence. The final result shows that living in a place with more green space will improve people's life satisfaction and reduce their psychological troubles.
The latest research on the relationship between green environment and mental health also comes from the University of Exeter. This time, one of the main problems they have to solve is whether the green environment has a long-term effect on mental health. This time, they analyzed the data of more than 1000 British residents in five years. These people will be investigated every year no matter where they move in five years.
This analysis is mainly aimed at two types of people, one is to move to a better green city, and the other is to move to a less green area. The study found that moving to green areas will not only improve people's mental health immediately, but also continue to play a role after these people move out of these areas for at least three years. However, if you move to an area with more artificial buildings and less greening, your mental health score will be lower. But as these people gradually adjust themselves, the reduced scores will gradually return to the level before migration.
This shows that the green environment can promote people's mental health. Although we can adapt to the environment without greening, more greening undoubtedly gives people an extra line of defense.
With the intensification of urbanization, the population is gradually gathering in cities and getting farther and farther away from nature. Urban public green space has become the main way for many people to contact nature in their daily lives. Urban planners and community designers should consider providing enough green space for urban residents. Urban residents can also make their leisure activities closer to the green natural environment during the rest time. Perhaps this piece of green is a good medicine to dispel the haze in their hearts.