greater than Five million Canadians – About one in eight of us – lives with a mood, anxiety or substance use disorder. The prevalence of mental illness is increasing. With one-third of people with the disorder having unmet or partially met needs for mental health care services.
city ​​pressure, where more than 70 percent of Canadians now live.can do. Increased risk of poor mental health Even further.
When most individuals take into consideration caring for their mental health, they may take into consideration getting more exercise, getting more sleep, and ensuring they're maintaining a healthy diet. Increasingly, research is showing that spending time in nature surrounded by plants and wildlife also helps Prevention and treatment of mental illness.
Our research focuses on the importance of birds and trees in urban neighborhoods in promoting mental well-being. In our studywe combined over a decade of health and environmental data in 36 Canadian cities and located a positive relationship between bird and tree diversity and self-rated mental health.
The well-being advantages of a healthy ecosystem probably won't come as an enormous surprise to urban dwellers who spend the day in a park or mountaineering in a close-by nature reserve. Still, the outcomes of our study speak to the potential of nature-based citizenship to advertise the health of its residents.
The relationship between birds, trees and humans
Across cultures and societies, people have Strong connection with birds. Their vivid lyrics and fantastic thing about color have inspired art, music and poetry. Their contemporary cultural relevance has even earned them an affectionate, funny Internet nickname: “Berb”
There is something magical about catching a glimpse of a bird and hearing the birds sing. For many urbanites, birds are our every day connection to wildlife and our gateway to nature. In fact, even when we don't know it, humans and birds are connected to one another. Birds provide us with a lot. Essential services – Controlling pests, dispersing seeds and polluting our crops.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnick)
People have the same deep reference to trees. The terms tree of life, family tree, even tree-hugging show the central cultural importance of trees in lots of communities world wide. In cities, trees are a vital a part of the trouble. Beauty and comfort.
When the Australian city of Melbourne gave urban trees email addresses for people to report problems, residents responded in writing. Thousands of love letters to their favorite trees. Forest bathing, a The practice of being still and quiet among the trees is a growing health trend..
Birds and trees as promoters of urban well-being
Connecting with nature and green space has a number of mental health advantages.
Natural places. Reduce stress and offer places for recreation and leisure for urban dwellers, but natural diversity is vital. A growing amount of research suggests that the extent of those advantages could also be related Diversity of different natural features.
For example, within the United States, high bird diversity is associated Fewer hospitalizations for mood and anxiety disorders And long Life expectancy. In a European study, researchers found Bird diversity was as important to livelihoods as income.
People can relate to an important diversity of birds and trees because we It evolved to recognize that the presence of more species indicates a safer environment. – With more things to eat and more shelter. Biodiverse environments also do less for the brain to interpret, Allows recovery of knowledge resources..
(AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
To explore the connection between biodiversity and mental health in urban Canada, we combined unique datasets. First, we collected bird data from community scientists, where people Logged your bird sightings on an app.. We then compared this data. Tree diversity data from the National Forest Inventory.
Finally, we compared these two data sets a Long-term health survey which has interviewed nearly 65,000 Canadians every year for twenty years.
We found that living in a neighborhood with higher than average bird diversity increased reporting good mental health by about seven percent. Living in a neighborhood with above-average tree diversity increased good mental health by about five percent.
Importance of urban birds and trees
The results of our study, and people of others, show a link between urban bird and tree diversity, healthy ecosystems and other people's mental well-being. This highlights the importance of protecting urban biodiversity as a part of promoting healthy living.
Protecting wild areas in parks, planting pollinator gardens and reducing pesticide use can all be key strategies to guard urban wildlife and promote people's well-being. Urban planners take note.
We are at a critical juncture: just as we're starting to grasp the welfare advantages of birds and trees, we're losing species faster than ever. It is estimated that there are Three billion fewer birds North America can be invaded by more invasive insects than within the Seventies. Kill 1.4 million street trees over the next 30 years.
By promoting urban biodiversity, we are able to ensure a sustainable and healthy future for all species, including ourselves.