Saturday 27 October 2018

Living Near a Forest is good for your brain

A study of older urban dwellers found that living in close proximity to forest land is linked with strong, healthy functioning of a key part of the brain. This indicates that, compared with those who live in a mostly man-made environment, people who dwell on the border between city and forest may be better able to cope with stress.

Perhaps surprisingly, Kuehn and her colleagues found no such association from living near bodies of water, or close to urban green spaces such as parks. Only proximity to forest land had this apparent positive effect.

The researchers caution that these results do not prove causality; it is possible that, for whatever reason, people with healthier amygdalae choose to live near forests. But that seems improbable, to put it mildly.