A new study is proving that nature really is healing.
Researchers at the University of Louisville in Kentucky designed a clinical trial to measure the effects of living near trees on the heart, in collaboration with the Green Heart Louisville Project's HEAL study.
They collected blood and other physical samples from participants. Then from 2019 to 2022 planted thousands of trees and shrubs in the study area. Last year and this year, they took the same types of samples and found some incredible results.
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People living in the area of South Louisville showed they had 13% lower levels of a marker for heart disease, comparable to starting regular exercise.
"I wouldn't have expected such a strong biomarker response, and that speaks to maybe something truly is causal here with how trees impact health," said Peter James, director of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, who did not participate in the project, told NBC.
The Green Heart Louisville Project explains on its website that the city currently ranks among the worst in air quality in the state and is losing 54,000 trees in its canopy each year.
Other studies have shown additional benefits to adding more green spaces and plants in urban areas. Earlier this year, a study out of Boston University showed that people living in greener urban areas experience slower cognitive decline as they age. In Europe, researchers discovered a connection between children's long-term lung health and exposure to green spaces, too.
Trees and plants in urban areas also help the environment. Cities often experience the "urban heat island" effect, which means temperatures are 15 to 20 degrees hotter thanks to things like concrete and pavement, which absorb heat well.
Adding more trees combats that effect, helping manage the ongoing rough summers being brought about by our changing climate. A study published in the Lancet showed increasing canopy coverage by 30% across 93 European cities could prevent an estimated four in 10 premature heat-related deaths.
Heat islands tend to impact lower and middle-income neighborhoods more, like the areas featured in the study in Louisville.
As James told NBC, "The take-home message here is that nature is not an amenity; green spaces are not a perk for the wealthy. They are essential for us as human beings."
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