Studies have come to show that green spaces make you smarter, and the study mainly involves the observance of young children, but beneficial effects exist for adults, as well. People knew for a long time that being exposed to nature would have good effect on the physical health of a person, but research has come to show that brain activity is also strongly influenced by someone’s surroundings.
It seems that being in the middle of nature or at least having a fair amount of greenery around you will help with your memory, namely an increase of 23%. The research was conducted in Barcelona and almost 2600 children participated in it. Studies showed that apart from memory gain, there is also a positive change in the decrease of inattentiveness, which was diminished by 19%.
The exposure to green areas was tracked through satellite images and it was performed using a measurement method named the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, which is calculated in rapport to the reflection projected by surrounding surfaces.
Dr Payam Dadvand, together with the the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences have developed several theories with respect to the causes of this particular of vegetation on the state of human brain. Apart from psychological recovery due to a feeling of well-being, there are several other positive effects which are thought to come by, through means of physical interaction with the environment and due to the reduced amount of carbon in the atmosphere.
When discovering the natural surroundings, a child employs many skills that will gradually further develop and strengthen, like risk taking, self-control and also the stimulation of creativity and certain emotions. All these aspect will sharpen his instincts and intuition and allow him to develop further cognitive functions. The Centre for Research and Environmental Epidemiology is very pleased with the results of the study, especially because it was the first of its kind.
Another similar study was conducted in America, analyzing the influence of greenery on students learning in public schools in Massachusetts up to the last year. And the results, provided via satellite as well, were striking as well, namely the more vegetation surrounded the 1000 schools which participated, the better were the results obtained by children during tests.
Scientists from Brown and Harvard University compared the results obtained then with those provided by schools from in the previous years and the conclusion was crystal clear: irrespective of school attendance, race, gender or age or income, the results were significantly higher in the areas that comprised more vegetation.
Image source: greenspacehealth.com
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