The poets may have been onto something when they wrote about the beauty of greener pastures.
A new study published in Science Advances found that people who have more exposure to greener landscapes live, on average, 2.5 years longer.
The researchers studied how biological age can be reduced through DNA chemical modifications called methylation.
“Our study shows that being near green space caused some biological or molecular changes that can be detected in our blood,” said Lifang Hou, a professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and principal investigator, per The Washington Post.
Over the span of 20 years, researchers studied 900 black and white participants in four urban cities: Chicago, Oakland, Birmingham and Minneapolis.
Blood samples were taken from the participants at the 15-year mark and again at 20 years and compared with the distance individuals lived from a park or other source of vegetation to determine their biological age.
“Living near more greenness can help you be younger than your actual age,” said Kyeezu Kim, the study’s lead author. “We believe our findings have significant implications for urban planning in terms of expanding green infrastructure to promote public health and reduce health disparities,” per VOA News.
There were some disparities, however, in the study.
The researchers used satellite imaging to study vegetation data near the participants, whether it was a park, golf course or other type of landscape that was unidentified, which could have an impact.
They also discovered that the results were not evenly shared amongst races. Black people who were surrounded by more vegetation were only biologically one year younger, whereas white people were three years younger.
According to Medical Xpress, “Other factors, such as stress, qualities of the surrounding green space, and other social support can affect the degree of benefits of green spaces in terms of biological aging,” said Kim.
This could include parks where illicit activities would take away the benefits of the park for other individuals.
Understanding in better detail what the green space being researched is and what it is being used for would help future research on the subject.
Following the results of the study, researchers encouraged individuals to be more aware of their surroundings to promote their health.
“We need to start changing our perspective on green space and really viewing it as an essential piece of infrastructure, just the same as sewer systems and garbage collection,” Peter James, an environmental epidemiologist at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study, told The Washington Post.
“This is something that we require as human beings to thrive, to be healthy,” he said.