Green Trees, Sunshine in
Home, Linked to Longevity

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Seniors who live on tree-lined streets and within walking distance of grassy parks appear to survive longer than those with less exposure to greenery, according to a team of Japanese researchers.

Why? Seniors who live near "walkable green streets" may be more likely to answer the call of the great outdoors, they said.

"The availability of space near your own residence for taking a stroll is believed to increase the chances of walking outside of the residence, which helps to maintain a high physical functional status," write Dr. Takehito Takano of Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Yushima, Japan and colleagues.

They therefore recommend that urban planners and health workers take seniors' needs into account when designing towns or residences.

The researchers studied 3,144 people born between 1903 and 1918 who lived in densely populated urban areas of Tokyo. The seniors were first surveyed in 1992 and again in 1997.

Overall, 29% of the people died during the five-year study period, leaving 2,211 survivors, the investigators report in the December issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Women were more likely to survive than men, but the men and women most likely to survive were those who lived near grassy or tree-filled walking areas and those who lived near parks and on tree-lined streets, study findings indicate.

Furthermore, this positive impact of the community's greenery on the seniors' five-year survival remained true even when the researchers took into consideration other factors known to influence longevity, such as the seniors' age, gender, marital status and socioeconomic status, the report indicates.

In other findings, men were less likely to survive if they lived in noisy areas clogged with automobiles and factories. And women were more likely to survive if they actively communicated with their neighbors and had initially reported a preference to continue living in their same community.

What's more, the number of hours that sunlight streamed into home windows seemed to influence longevity as well. The more hours of sunshine in the home, the greater the likelihood for surviving the five-year study period. This was true for men but not women.

The results suggest that "the value of parks and tree lined streets near residences is particularly high in densely populated urban areas for the senior citizens living there," the researchers write.

Consequently, "close collaboration should be undertaken among the health, construction, civil engineering, planning, and other concerned sectors in the context of the healthy urban policy, so as to promote the health of senior citizens," the researchers conclude.

SOURCE: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2002;56:913-918.

Reference Source 89

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