(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 17 - Living nature protects against diseases, in fact often frequenting green areas or spaces is linked to a lower use of some prescription drugs for diseases such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, hypertension and asthma.
However, it is not enough to have many green spaces near the house or to be able to see them from the window.
You have to go there yourself to benefit from it.
This was revealed by a study conducted by Anu Turunen, of the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare, in Kuopio.
The effect of green is democraticbecause it works the same for everyone, regardless of the individual's income and level of education.
The research was published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine.
The researchers drew on responses from 16,000 residents of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa, gathering insights into how city dwellers, aged 25 or over, experience residential green and blue spaces within a 1km radius of their homes.
Respondents were also asked to report the use of prescribed medications - medications for anxiety, insomnia and depression, i.e. psychiatric drugs;
medicines for high blood pressure and asthma.
They were also asked how often they spent time or exercised outdoors in green spaces and whether they could see green or blue spaces from their windows and, if so, how often they observed them.
The analysis showed that only the frequency of visits to green spaces had positive effects on reducing the prescription of drugs: compared with less than one weekly visit, visits 3-4 times a week are associated with a 33% reduction in the probability of using psychiatric drugs, of 36 % likely to use high blood pressure medication and 26% likely to use asthma medication.
(HANDLE).