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How Trees Calm Us Down

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Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#71

Post by magic_beans »

Ntrails wrote: post #61
rangibaby wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a massive, recent hayfever problem in Japan because cedar trees planted to be used for timber after WWII weren't as construction methods changed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay_fever_in_Japan

The thing that always gets me is that when I spent summers in canada I experienced not an iota of hayfever, but I get pretty significant symptoms in the UK. I think it's about the only strong draw to emmigration at some point in the future!

I'm the same way. I'm from the US and have never had any allergies ever, though I've spent a lot of time outdoors. I spent a summer in the UK one year, and the whole time I had horrific allergies. I was basically hopped up on Benadryl the whole time.

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#72

Post by andrewfromx »

"Are trees alive?" is the question to ask yourself. They can seem very un-alive to us humans. But when the wind blows and their leaves move you can see it. They are literally WAVING at you. Think back to when you were 8 on the playground and a friendly kid waved at you. Trees just wanna play. But wait you say, that's just the wind. The tree isn't deciding to move like the 8 year old kid decided to wave his/her arms. OR DID the tree purposely make its leaves in a shape to catch the wind and that movement is 100% intentional. When you see it that way you can stare at trees for hours. Also, every single one of those trees is naked. When you are bored/depressed/lonely just stare at trees and giggle.

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#73

Post by sliverstorm »

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 also have allergies but I'd take them in a second over cutting down the trees. (Though I might look for a state to live with more allergy friendly trees)

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#74

Post by throwanem »

ghettoCoder wrote: post #64
ObeyTheGuts wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think its obvious, we like rivers, mountains, flowers, greenery as they all represent fertillity of the land! (Mountains mean that there will be water even in draughts)

Only if you consider Coors Light, the mountain beer, to be water (which it is). Draught is the british (and Canada, other places as well) spelling for draft as in draft beer. Not trying to be grammar nazi, just thought it was funny cause the typo was somewhat well placed.

> if you consider Coors Light, the mountain beer, to be water

What did water ever do to you?

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#75

Post by pavel_lishin »

Ntrails wrote: post #61
rangibaby wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a massive, recent hayfever problem in Japan because cedar trees planted to be used for timber after WWII weren't as construction methods changed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay_fever_in_Japan

The thing that always gets me is that when I spent summers in canada I experienced not an iota of hayfever, but I get pretty significant symptoms in the UK. I think it's about the only strong draw to emmigration at some point in the future!

My uncle brings his son on a roadtrip to America every summer to escape his allergies to birch pollen.

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#76

Post by wodenokoto »

eggy wrote: post #46
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.

For the 18 years I lived in Brooklyn, the trees were never maintained by the city. Our block association planted them in the late sixties, and the houses on either side watered them when they were hosing their own sidewalks (as well as keeping all the stray dogs from shitting and pissing in their soil!). I remember only one incidence of the city being called in, or a private contractor to repair the sidewalk by the t…

You are absolutely right about the cost, and I was way off when I wrote that comment. See below where I quote actual prices of about 40usd a year to maintain an inner city tree.

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#77

Post by ASpring »

eggy wrote: post #43
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.

I was the parent of the thread that brought up 'correlation is not causation' point [0]. I did read the entire article, as well as other papers on the effects of environment on well being. My main point however, is a call for some prudence especially with the relatively recent focus on bad statistics in psychology and the neurosciences. A caution against accepting a paper's conclusions because of the correlation of a…

It's worth noting that the original publication doesn't claim that it is the trees that have the effect. That is a layer of confusion generated by the New Yorker author. Berman's original work compares "natural" vs urban environments.

[1]http://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/wp-content/uploads/The-Cognitive...

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#78

Post by jcl »

Some of the walks took place in June, whereas others took place in January; most people didn’t particularly enjoy trudging through the harsh Michigan winter, but their scores jumped just as much as in the summer trials.

I found this the most interesting point in the article. I would have assumed that any psychological effect of viewing trees would be largely due to their greenness, since that is their dominant visual aspect. But, assuming a largely deciduous environment, naked trees in winter would seem to have the same effect. So the effect must be stimulated by something deeper than just raw color.

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#79

Post by kkylin »

Interesting finding, but the article at least leaves one with more questions than answers (I haven't looked up the original research).

My own personal experience tends to confirm the main point put forth. Indeed, when we moved to the US Southwest several years ago, I thought I would miss oceans the most (having always lived on a coast). But no, I really miss seeing green -- my first time back east after moving here, the impact of seeing all those trees was really tremendous (& positive).

Having said that, the effect mentioned in the study can also be due to the amount of attention that a city street demands, and a lot of other factors. (Walking down Broadway in NYC in the middle of day just isn't the same as strolling through West Village on a Sunday morning!) Not to mention what other commenters have pointed out, e.g., correlation != causality. Quite likely the researchers have thought about this; I would be interested in what they found.

Re: How Trees Calm Us Down

#80

Post by TillE »

elcapitan wrote: post #15

Having trees in the city is nice, and Berlin has an ok level (at least where I live). But I recently started to do long weekend day hikes in the area around the city, and the effect is even better. The constant change of natural forms while moving really frees up my mind and floods it with new impressions that I don't have on my work days. I used to have a meditative effect from running, but it has become a bit too m…

In terms of major cities, Berlin is wonderfully green almost all over. Trees line most streets, in a much more natural-feeling way than you'd find in places like Manhattan.
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