Researchers have discovered that children with daily exposure to woodland areas can have better cognitive development and a lower risk of emotional problems. The study, published in Nature Sustainability, studied adolescents aged 9 to 15 across London for over four years. Exposure to green spaces, such as woodlands, were found to have higher scores for cognitive development, as CNN details:
Exposure to green space was associated with a beneficial contribution to young people's cognitive development, researchers explained. The same associations were not seen with exposure to blue space -- though the sample of children studied generally had low access to it, researchers noted in the study published Monday.
Lead author Mikaël Maes said that, while the team had established an association between woodlands and better cognitive development and mental health, there is no causal link between the two -- something that could be studied in the future.
"Currently, the mechanisms why humans receive mental health or cognition benefits from nature exposure is unknown. Scientific research on the role of the human senses is key to establish a causal link," Maes, a PhD researcher at University College London's school of Geography, Biosciences and Imperial College London School of Public Health, told CNN.
image credit: Pascal van de Vendel(Unsplash)
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ya but they don't have access to pizza and frozen coffee and beef wellington so...i duno, there's always a trade off
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