More green space is linked to less stress in deprived communities: Evidence from salivary cortisol patterns

By C. Thompson, Jenny Roe, P. Aspinall, Richard Mitchell, A. Clow, David Miller. 2012

1,083 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Green space has been associated with a wide range of health benefits, including stress reduction, but much pertinent evidence has relied on self-reported health indicators or experiments in artificially controlled environmental conditions. Little research has been reported using ecologically valid objective measures with participants in their everyday, residential settings. This paper describes the results of an exploratory study (n = 25) to establish whether salivary cortisol can act as a biomarker for variation in stress levels which may be associated with varying levels of exposure to green spaces, and whether recruitment and adherence to the required, unsupervised, salivary cortisol sampling protocol within the domestic setting could be achieved in a highly deprived urban population. Self-reported measures of stress and general wellbeing were also captured, allowing exploration of relationships between cortisol, wellbeing and exposure to green space close to home. Results indicate significant relationships between self-reported stress (P < 0.01), diurnal patterns of cortisol secretion (P < 0.05), and quantity of green space in the living environment. Regression analysis indicates percentage of green space in the living environment is a significant (P < 0.05) and independent predictor of the circadian cortisol cycle, in addition to self-reported physical activity (P < 0.02). Results also show that compliance with the study protocol was good. We conclude that salivary cortisol measurement offers considerable potential for exploring relationships between wellbeing and green space and discuss how this ecologically valid methodology can be developed to confirm and extend findings in deprived city areas to illuminate why provision of green space close to home might enhance health.

Subfields: Environmental Engineering, Global and Planetary Change, Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e278f99a392872479cf4ecfa2bfb331fd426458c

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Citations in the corpus

Restoration in Urban Spaces (2016, background): “However, the relation between nature view and hair cortisol levels is in line with Ward Thompson et al. (2012).”
A dose-response curve describing the relationship between tree cover density and landscape preference (2015, result): “Those two studies and several prior studies suggest that environments with higher tree cover density can produce greater stress reduction (Beil & Hanes, 2013; Roe et al., 2013; Tyrvainen et al., 2014; van den Berg, Hartig, & Staats, 2007; Ward Thompson et al., 2012).”
The Consumption of a Finite Planet: Well-Being, Convergence, Divergence and the Nascent Green Economy (2013, background): “A growing evidence base now shows that health benefits arise from activities undertaken both in urban and rural green places (Barton and Pretty 2010; Pretty et al. 2011b; Ward Thompson et al. 2012).”
A dose of nature: Tree cover, stress reduction, and gender differences (2014, background): “…responses associated with various kinds of landscapes and have generally found that, in urban areas, the higher the level of vegetation, the greater the stress reduction (e.g., Alvarsson, Wiens, & Nilsson, 2010; Beil & Hanes, 2013; Lee et al., 2009; Roe et al., 2013; Ward Thompson et al., 2012).”
Exploring pathways linking greenspace to health: Theoretical and methodological guidance (2017, background): “Moreover, some observational studies have found evidence to support the potential role of greenspace in buffering or reducing stress (van den Berg et al., 2010; Roe et al., 2013; Stigsdotter et al., 2010; Ward Thompson et al., 2012).”
Examining Group Walks in Nature and Multiple Aspects of Well-Being: A Large-Scale Study (2014, positive): “This measure has been used in previous nature and health studies in the UK (Marselle et al., 2013; Ward Thompson et al., 2012).”
Does happiness data say urban parks are worth it? (2018, background): “That is, while some have examined their effect on physical health (Zhai & Baran, 2016), others have focused on mental health (Grahn & Stigsdotter, 2010; Hansmann et al., 2007; Thompson et al., 2012).”
A Dose-Response Curve Describing the Relationship Between Urban Tree Cover Density and Self-Reported Stress Recovery (2016, background): “…of both sexes and of different ages, and socioeconomic status (e.g., Beil & Hanes, 2013; Chang & Chen, 2005; Grahn & Stigsdotter, 2003; Lottrup et al., 2013; Ward Thompson et al., 2012), a variety of constraints have prevented scholars from identifying a comprehensive, detailed dose-response curve.”