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How Trees Calm Us Down

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Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#51

Post by cglace »

legohead wrote: post #13
fratlas wrote: post #3

I opted for a lower quality apartment this year because all it's windows face vast green fields or trees. The effects are undeniable - some of my favourite times this year have been spent just sitting on my balcony admiring the greenery.

Went on my first cruise this year. I'm so glad we got a balcony -- I think I spent most of the trip just sitting on the balcony enjoying the sound of the ocean, or watching people at port. The balcony was my favorite part of the whole vacation...

I agree. My favorite time was eating breakfast sitting on the balcony admiring the ocean.

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#52

Post by bagacrap »

mkolodny wrote: post #17

From what I've seen living in Toronto, NYC and Montreal, streets with nicer houses/apartments tend to have more trees. Those neighborhoods also tend to be quieter. Take the example of NYC. The Upper East Side and Clinton Hill are two neighborhoods with a relatively large number of trees. Both of those neighborhoods are two of the most expensive and quiet neighborhoods in Manhattan/Brooklyn. So it could just be that q…

In cases like this, trees are a luxury for the rich. Not being gripped by poverty might have a calming effect.

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#53

Post by infinite8s »

amelius wrote: post #37

I can see a market for a VR movie/game which allows the user to walk/drive through (or just sit in) a forest :)

I think that would only work if you could capture the olfactory sensations from being in a forest, and the exposure to the sun's UV rays (which trigger production of Vitamin D, which has been linked to depression and mental state).

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#54

Post by PoundsFan »

Better neighborhoods generally have more trees.

Rich people generally live in better neighborhoods.

Rich people are generally more health-conscious and can afford to take care of their own health more.

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#55

Post by JabavuAdams »

greggman wrote: post #10
eggy wrote: post #6

I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, but moved out to rural NJ in my thirties. I bought a house on a lake with no motorboats, plenty of black bears and raccoons and lots of trees. I now live in the rice fields of East Java, Indonesia, so I guess you can say I love the outdoors. I do question the science or numbers in the study as much as I believe the basic premise to be true, however, correlation does not automati…

As someone who suffers from hay fever being around trees can be weeks of pain for me every year

I use a prescription nasal spray and eye drops, and this completely controls my otherwise severe symptoms.

I used allergy pills for years, but the results were not as good, and they all caused some amount of drowsiness.

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#56

Post by sitkack »

aninhumer wrote: post #32
cantcopy wrote: post #26

All of those saying correlation is not causation did not read the article. The study detected an immediate and neasurable effect from just walking among trees.

Now I think this probably is causation, but pointing out that the correlation is really strong is not an argument against "correlation is not causation".

Reflexively trotting out "correlation is not causation" is a thought terminating cliche. It short circuits our thinking. People often stop at the statement, feeling satisfied in their scientific abilities.

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#57

Post by mantesso »

internaut wrote: post #39
eggy wrote: post #6

I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, but moved out to rural NJ in my thirties. I bought a house on a lake with no motorboats, plenty of black bears and raccoons and lots of trees. I now live in the rice fields of East Java, Indonesia, so I guess you can say I love the outdoors. I do question the science or numbers in the study as much as I believe the basic premise to be true, however, correlation does not automati…

If you want to know more you may be interested in these: Japanese researcher describes (with control group) the interesting affects of walking in a forest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jPNll1Ccn0 Indian researcher describes side affects of indoor plants on health esp. air quality. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmn7tjSNyAA I'm incorporating some of these concepts into my tiny house design e.g. a terrarium and an…

Very interesting. Here's the original study from NASA, Interior Landscape plants for indoor air pollution abatement : http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/1993007...

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#59

Post by arethuza »

wodenokoto wrote: post #33

A tree on a street is incredibly expensive to maintain. The tree itself need maintaince from a gardner and the surrounding road and sidewalk needs extra maintenence too.

We are members of two private gardens in Edinburgh - which are fairly large and have loads of trees. The costs of these are £80 and £250 a year - so I don't think there is anything inherent about trees being expensive to maintain if the costs are split among enough people (and these are only split between people who live on 3 streets).

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#60

Post by frankquist »

tedks wrote: post #16

Correlation is not causation. Houses on streets with trees are more expensive. People that can afford to live there are healthier for obvious reasons. Likewise, people that are put into better hospital rooms are probably just patients the hospital is willing to expend more energy on, because they have deeper pockets/are the right ethnicity/are "respectable people" etc.. Is there any non-depressing source of science j…

While the study doesn't seem to have taken into account the houses' values, it has taken into account income (as the article states) and area income (the article doesn't state this). I do not know if that's enough to correct for housing costs. But I do assume that accounting for area income should go a long way to counter your example regarding affording houses. That said, of course correlation isn't causation.
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