One thing rarely talked about in the landscape industry is the positive impact landscaping has on mental health. Even the smallest patches of greenery can be beneficial.
- Trees located within 300 feet of a home showed a reduced risk of the residents being prescribed antidepressants.
- Noticeable reduction in noise and pollution
- Measurable societal impacts such as costing communities more than 4% of their GDP
- People who live in spaces lacking trees and even small-scale green areas have 40% more mental health problems and 20% greater anxiety can lead to physical health problems
- Trees are used in institutional settings to promote concentration and performance
Trees are calming, and forests are especially good at reducing psychological stress. The more canopy, the better, but any form of nature will do. Simply stepping outside whether in your own landscape or in nature outside of it is good for you, no question.
And as we’ve known for a long time, planting trees is good for the environment because it contributes to climate change mitigation and biodiversity.
Frederick Law Olmsted, commonly referred to as the father of landscape architecture who designed spaces from New York’s Central Park to Stanford’s campus, wrote that “scenes and objects such as we are apt to call simple and natural… touch us so quietly that we are hardly conscious of them.”
Consider planting more trees in your own landscape (Outdoor Craftsmen specializes in all sizes, shapes, heights, and unusual trees). Ask us about adding a few trees to your landscape or contributing to tree planting in other ways. A quick search for “tree planting organizations” on Google provides excellent quality organizations who do this.
