Plants improve our mental health, scientific research confirms

For the first time, scientists are interested in the relationship between urban greening and hospitalization rates due to mental health pathologies. And the results confirm the point: our environment does have an impact on our morale.

A study, published this week in British Medical Journalcould influence the future architecture of our cities, reports Sunday 16 November France Inter. The scientists analyzed data from more than 11 million hospitalizations for mental disorders in nearly 7,000 cities in seven countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, New Zealand, South Korea and Thailand, between 2000 and 2019. At the same time, revegetation was scanned by satellite in these locations.

“There was a 7% reduction in the rate of hospitalization for mental health reasons for every unit increase in this vegetation indexexplained Éric Lavigne, professor of epidemiology at the University of Ottawa, Canada, and one of the authors of the study. This is a very good result because we want to move in the direction, in the context of climate change, of making cities greener.”

Greening urban environments could potentially avoid tens of thousands of hospitalizations each year, according to the professor: “It can provide several types of well-being: psychological calm, obviously promotes physical activity and therefore has physiological effects that may impact mental health”list Eric Lavigne.

The researchers encourage this investigation to be carried out, taking a closer look at what types of plants are more beneficial, and where to place them in urban areas, to offer a more calming environment for patients.