A green perspective: what good does it do?

Abstract

Green space can have a big impact on improving long-term health and wellbeing. Julian Ashton of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust examines the effects of exposure to the natural world.From 1942 to 1944, Anne Frank's only sight of the natural world was a patch of sky and a chestnut tree: the view from her second floor dormer window. She mentioned this in her diary; it was clearly important to her to have this view. From one who was confined for years to those confined for about two weeks: a well-cited study by Ulrich[1] compared two matched groups of patients who had had a cholecystectomy operation in a suburban Pennsylvania hospital. Half of the patients had a view of trees and the other half, a brick wall. Those with the natural view needed shorter stays in hospital and, during days 2-5 post-operation, took fewer painkillers. To investigate whether this was a beneficial effect of a natural view or due to the lack of interest in the view of the wall, Ulrich and colleagues used a different kind of control in a further study. Subjects watched a stressful film; then one group watched a video of natural scenes, while the rest watched a video of traffic and a shopping mall. The natural views were more de-stressing than the control video, as measured by heart rate and other parameters.[2]Raanaas et al .[3] examined the health benefits of a window view on nature in patients in a Norwegian rehabilitation centre. The subjects were pulmonary or coronary patients who were allocated rooms with a view of natural surroundings, a blocked view or a partially blocked view. Outcome measures included time spent alone in the room and 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) (self-reported mental and physical health). Interestingly, there were gender differences in some results. For women, there was a positive influence of a natural view on self-reported physical health. For men, a blocked view affected mental health negatively. There was also a difference in the response of lung patients compared to coronary patients. The authors consider this may be because the lung patients found it more helpful to spend time resting in their rooms.A study by Dravigne et al .[4] examined whether a view of green spaces affected job satisfaction, although the group with green views included those who had 'live plants' in their offices, in Texas and the Midwest. The survey was done online, which does not necessarily give consistency, but there were clearly significant results. Those with a green view (or plants) reported improved job satisfaction and perception of overall quality of life; this effect was greater among male office staff than female. A green view may be close or more distant, but the proximity of green spaces is a vital factor, whether or not they can be seen from a window. Mitchell and Popham[5] used the records of hundreds of thousands of deaths in England and analysed them in respect of the proportion of green space in the residents' area. …