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Healthy for our brain Those who live in the forest can handle stress better
A stay in the countryside promotes good health. It is even better if you live in a place that is close to meadows and forests. Because close-to-nature has positive effects on our brain, according to a new study.
In nature you can relax best
Increasing work pressure and stress endanger health. Relaxation and rest are important for humans. To switch off you go best into nature. Because most people can recover the best there. It is even better to live close to nature. Because then you can handle stress better. This is what a study by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development has now shown.
Urban living close to the urban area has, according to a new study, apparently positive effects on our brain. These findings could be of great importance for future urban planning. (Image: K.-U. Häßler / fotolia.com) City dwellers are at a higher risk for mental suffering
Noise, air pollution and many people in confined spaces: City life can cause chronic stress.
For example, city dwellers are more likely to suffer from mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety disorders and schizophrenia than rural residents, the Max Planck Institute for Human Development reports in a statement.
In comparison, city dwellers show higher activity of the amygdala than rural dwellers - a small region of the brain that plays an important role in stress management and response to dangers. But what factors can be preventative??
A team of scientists around the psychologist Simone Kühn has now investigated the influence of near-residential nature such as forest, urban green or water areas and fallow land on stress-processing brain areas such as the amygdala - in professional circles also called amygdala.
Connection between place of residence and brain health
"Research on brain plasticity supports the assumption that the environment can shape both the brain structure and its function. We are therefore interested in the environmental conditions that have a positive effect on brain development, "said first author Simone Kühn, who led the study at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and now works at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE).
"We know from studies of rural dwellers that living close to nature is good for mental health and well-being. So we looked at how it behaves with city dwellers. "
And indeed, the scientists found in the scientific journal "Scientific Reports" published study, a connection between place of residence and brain health.
Urban green areas without impact on the examined brain regions
Those city dwellers who lived near the forest showed more evidence of a physiologically healthy structure of the amygdala and therefore probably better to deal with stress.
This effect persisted even when differences in educational attainment and in income were excluded.
However, no correlation was found between urban green or water areas, as well as fallow land and the brain regions studied.
Whether forest-related living actually has a positive effect on the amygdala or whether people with a healthier amygdala visit forest-related residential areas can not be decided with the available data.
However, against the background of previous findings, the scientists consider the first explanation more likely. In order to be able to prove this, further follow-up studies are required.
By 2050, nearly 70 percent of the world's population will live in cities
The participants of the study were from the Berlin Age Study II (BASE-II) - a follow-up study that examines the physical, mental and social conditions for a healthy aging.
In total, 341 older adults between the ages of 61 and 82 years were recruited for the study.
In addition to thinking and memory tasks, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure the structure of stress-processing brain regions - in particular the amygdala.
In order to investigate the impact that near-residential nature has on these brain regions, the researchers assembled the MRI data with geo-information about the place of residence of the volunteers.
"Our study is the first to examine the relationship between urban development features and brain health," said co-author Ulman Lindenberger, director of the Research Department of Developmental Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development.
It is expected that by 2050, almost 70 percent of the world's population will live in cities. Therefore, the results could be important for urban planning.
First, however, it was important to review the observed relationship between the brain and the forest in further studies and other cities, said Ulman Lindenberger. (Ad)