A popular phrase in this very online era of human existence is "touch grass." It's a reminder that we should all get off the internet and live in the real world every so often, before the former completely overtakes the latter in our mind's eye. But what if touching grass wasn't just a temporary respite from being online? What if it was an actively better way to live, period?
This is the subject of a recent Kobe University study published in Landscape and Urban Planning, which surveyed 3,500 residents of two of Japan's largest cities (Tokyo and Osaka) in hopes of determining their relationship to nature.
The conclusion? Touching grass does indeed vastly improve a person's mental health.
In the study, scientists attempted to establish survey participants' proximity to nature in both objective (how much access do they have to nature) and subjective (how close do they feel to nature) fashion. Responses were then sorted based on socioeconomic status by area and the degree of urban development of residential areas, so as to clarify the correlation (or lack thereof) between well-being and nature.
Results show two main things — first, the closer to nature people feel, the better their overall well-being is, with this relationship being particularly pronounced in urban areas with poorer socioeconomic conditions.
However, the converse conclusion also proved true. Residents of wealthier areas have access to additional resources for enhancing their health and overall well-being, making the effects of nature visits relatively less pronounced.
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What does all of this mean besides proving general common knowledge correct? Well, it could be beneficial in the writing of legislation aimed at reducing inequality.
"We anticipate that conserving and enhancing existing natural spaces and organizing community events will have a positive effect on well-being in areas of relatively poor socioeconomic status," said Uchiyama Yuta, the lead researcher on the study.
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