More evidence green spaces are good for you

Courtesy of Project EverGreen: 

The value of establishing and maintaining green spaces within communities is a message that continues to gain momentum. Aside from the economic value a well-maintained lawn and home or business landscape provides, new research shows that turning vacant lots into attractive green spaces may actually make life less stressful.

A study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and published in the American Journal of Public Health, indicates that people in two Philadelphia neighborhoods who wore heart rate monitors when they went for walks saw a reduction in heart rate when they walked by a lot that underwent “greening” – cleaning, debris removal, planting grass and trees, and installing a low wooden post- and rail-fence.

“The reduction we found suggests a biological link between urban blight reduction strategies like vacant lot greening and reductions in stress,” said Dr. Eugenia South, the lead author of the study.

This isn’t the first time Dr. South and the university has conducted research on the positive effects of green spaces. An earlier study found that people living near vacant land that had been “greened” felt safer than those who lived near non-greened sites.

For more information on the study read the university’s press release.