City Parks May Mend the Mind
1 Exposure to natural settings has been linked with a vast array of human health benefits, from reduced rates of depression to increased immune functioning. Two recent studies found evidence suggesting that urban green spaces, such as parks and gardens, may also improve cognitive development and buffer the effects of health inequality.
2 In a research reported last year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, investigators in Spain, Norway and the U.S. explored the cognitive development of 2,593 children between the ages of seven and ten from 36 primary schools in Barcelona. At regular intervals over a period of 12 months, they tracked changes in memory and attentiveness using cognitive tests, and they used high-resolution satellite data to assess the children’s proximity to green space at home and school and during their commute. After factoring out socioeconomic status and other potential confounders, they determined that children who were closer to parkland had better memory development and less inattentiveness than other children.
3 he study authors suggest that green spaces may have a positive effect both directly and indirectly. “Green spaces provide children with opportunities to develop mental skills such as discovery and creativity,” says co-author Payam Dadvand, a physician and researcher at the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona. More indirectly, green spaces may help by reducing exposure to air pollution and noise, increasing physical activity, and microbial from the environment, all of which have been associated with improved mental development, he says. When the researchers measured and factored in traffic-related air pollution, which is higher in places with fewer plants and trees, they found that it accounted for 20 to 65 percent of the observed association between greenness and cognitive development. Air pollution has been shown to have neurotoxic effects, Dadvand says.
4 Natural settings may also help reduce the mental health burden that comes with socioeconomic inequality, according to a paper by researchers at the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh. A cross-sectional observational study published last year in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine sought to determine which neighborhood characteristics might be “equigenic,” or capable of disrupting the relation between socioeconomic disparities and health inequality. Using data from 21,294 adults living in urban areas in 34 European countries, the scientists examined associations between participants’ level of financial stress and psychological well-being. Then they explored interactions between those variables and five neighborhood characteristics or services, including access to green spaces, banking and postal services, public transportation and cultural facilities. Results show that the difference in well-being scores among people experiencing the most and least financial difficulty diminished with greater access to green spaces, such that the health was 40 percent smaller among those with better access. No such benefits were found with any of the other variables studied.
5 Approximately half of the world’s current population lives in urban areas, and that number is expected to increase, Dadvand says. Findings such as these could influence policy makers to increase access to green spaces, in the hope that doing so might boost mental health in nearby residents and improve academic achievement in children. “That could have long-term consequences for individuals, families and society as a whole,” Dadvand says.
Skim the text and choose the right answers.
1. What is the text mainly about?
1 Exposure to natural settings has been linked with a vast array of human health benefits, from reduced rates of depression to increased immune functioning. Two recent studies found evidence suggesting that urban green spaces, such as parks and gardens, may also improve cognitive development and buffer the effects of health inequality.
2 In a research reported last year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, investigators in Spain, Norway and the U.S. explored the cognitive development of 2,593 children between the ages of seven and ten from 36 primary schools in Barcelona. At regular intervals over a period of 12 months, they tracked changes in memory and attentiveness using cognitive tests, and they used high-resolution satellite data to assess the children’s proximity to green space at home and school and during their commute. After factoring out socioeconomic status and other potential confounders, they determined that children who were closer to parkland had better memory development and less inattentiveness than other children.
3 he study authors suggest that green spaces may have a positive effect both directly and indirectly. “Green spaces provide children with opportunities to develop mental skills such as discovery and creativity,” says co-author Payam Dadvand, a physician and researcher at the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona. More indirectly, green spaces may help by reducing exposure to air pollution and noise, increasing physical activity, and microbial from the environment, all of which have been associated with improved mental development, he says. When the researchers measured and factored in traffic-related air pollution, which is higher in places with fewer plants and trees, they found that it accounted for 20 to 65 percent of the observed association between greenness and cognitive development. Air pollution has been shown to have neurotoxic effects, Dadvand says.
4 Natural settings may also help reduce the mental health burden that comes with socioeconomic inequality, according to a paper by researchers at the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh. A cross-sectional observational study published last year in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine sought to determine which neighborhood characteristics might be “equigenic,” or capable of disrupting the relation between socioeconomic disparities and health inequality. Using data from 21,294 adults living in urban areas in 34 European countries, the scientists examined associations between participants’ level of financial stress and psychological well-being. Then they explored interactions between those variables and five neighborhood characteristics or services, including access to green spaces, banking and postal services, public transportation and cultural facilities. Results show that the difference in well-being scores among people experiencing the most and least financial difficulty diminished with greater access to green spaces, such that the health was 40 percent smaller among those with better access. No such benefits were found with any of the other variables studied.
5 Approximately half of the world’s current population lives in urban areas, and that number is expected to increase, Dadvand says. Findings such as these could influence policy makers to increase access to green spaces, in the hope that doing so might boost mental health in nearby residents and improve academic achievement in children. “That could have long-term consequences for individuals, families and society as a whole,” Dadvand says.
Skim the text and choose the right answers.
1. What is the text mainly about?
举一反三
- A) The study authors suggest that green spaces may have a positive effect both directly and indirectly. B) “Green spaces provide children with opportunities to develop mental skills such as discovery and creativity,” says co-author Payam Dadvand, a physician and researcher at the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona. More indirectly, C) green spaces may help by reducing exposure to air pollution and noise, increasing physical activity, and enriching microbial input from the environment, all of which have
- Living in an urban area with green spaces has a long-lasting positive impact on people's mental well-being, a study has suggested. UK researchers found moving to a green space had a sustained positive effect, unlike pay rises or promotions, which only provided a short-term boost. Co-author Mathew White, from the European Centre for Environment and Human Health at the University of Exeter, UK, explained that the study showed people living in greener urban areas were displaying fewer signs of depression or anxiety. "There could be a number of reasons,” he said, “for example, people do many things to make themselves happier: they strive for promotion or pay rises, or they get married. But the trouble with all those things is that within six months to a year, people are back to their original baseline levels of well-being. So, these things are not sustainable; they don’t make us happy in the long term. We found that for some lottery（彩票）winners who had won more than £500,000 the positive effect was definitely there, but after six months to a year, they were back to the baseline." Dr. White said his team wanted to see whether living in greener urban areas had a lasting positive effect on people's sense of well-being or whether the effect also disappeared after a period of time. To do this, the team used data from the British Household Panel Survey compiled by the University of Essex. Explaining what the data revealed, he said: "What you see is that even after three years, mental health is still better, which is unlike many of the other things that we think will make us happy." He observed that people living in green spaces were less stressed, and less stressed people made more sensible decisions and communicated better.
- A study done by researchers at the University of Southern California<br/>indicates that ____. A: 1,700 Children from Southern California have weak lung activities B: children in Southern California use less strength to breathe C: air pollution may affect the growth of children’s lungs D: 80 percent of children in Southern California suffer from air<br/>pollution
- COMPREHENSION QUESTION 1.1.2 What are the two kinds of science that will be emphasized during this course ? A: Research on brain development and cognitive neuroscience B: Research on health and education C: Research on how children develop and research on program implementation and impacts D: Research on program implementation and impacts and policy evaluation
- In the U.S. study, young adults who had only been bullied displayed the highest ______ of mental health problems, at 36 percent, followed by those who had been maltreated and bullied, at 30 percent.