Trees are Superb Healers
Research shows that trees and greenery help us heal faster and feel healthier. In a nutshell, according to Alex hutchinson for the New Yorker:
“After controlling for income, education, and age, Berman and his colleagues showed that an additional ten trees on a given block corresponded to a one-per-cent increase in how healthy nearby residents felt. “To get an equivalent increase with money, you’d have to give each household in that neighborhood ten thousand dollars—or make people seven years younger,” Berman told me.”
And, staggeringly,
“The Toronto data shows a similar link between tree cover and cardio-metabolic conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. For the people suffering from these conditions, an extra eleven trees per block corresponds to an income boost of twenty thousand dollars, or being almost one and a half years younger.”
In a previous post, I wrote about some of the respiratory benefits of trees, and their cultural and spiritual significance. This finding makes the evidence even more profound: we are wired to be around trees, and they improve our well being. Time to take that walk and commune with trees in your neighborhoods and parks – it’s SO good for you.
Humans are wired for trees, and it’s no wonder: they heal us in dramatic ways.