Study: Urban green space improves mental health

Research from the Texas A&M University School of Public Health confirms what the TurfMutt Foundation has been touting for 15 years. More exposure to green space has a positive effect on mental health.

The study measured urban greenness with a tool called NatureScore, which uses data points like parks, tree canopies, and air and noise pollution levels to calculate the quantity and quality of natural elements for addresses in the U.S. The NatureScores range from Nature Deficient (0-19 points) to Nature Utopia (80-100 points), and other points in between. The scientists compared this data to the number of mental health visits for a certain zip code.

Data on more than 61 million people were analyzed. Researchers discovered that outpatient mental health visits decreased as the NatureScore of a neighborhood increased. 

“We found that a NatureScore above 40 — considered Nature Adequate — seems to be the threshold for good mental health,” said Jay Maddock, Ph.D., Regents Professor of environmental and occupational health at Texas A&M. “People in these neighborhoods have a 51 percent lower likelihood of developing depression and a 63 percent lower likelihood for developing bipolar disorders.”

This is just one of the many ways the green space in our backyards and communities helps us. To learn more, download the TurfMutt Foundation’s International Backyarding Fact Book. For more on the TurfMutt Foundation, visit TurfMutt.com or sign up for Mutt Mail, a monthly e-newsletter with backyarding tips and all the news from the TurfMutt Foundation here. Look for Mulligan the TurfMutt on the CBS Lucky Dog television show on Saturday mornings.