Green is good for you

 “[Trees are] calming; something big and beautiful, that wasn’t made entirely by human hands, in a city full of people”.

(Source: Sarah Laskow, Next City, Science of Cities How Trees Can Make City People Happier (and Vice Versa), February 3, 2015)

A large tree can provide enough oxygen for the daily requirements of ten people. They also trap dust and pollutants generated by fossil-fuel engines and the labour of heavy industry, lowering the incidence of asthma, skin cancer and stress-related illness. They reduce smog and shade out solar radiation.

Trees provide a temporary escape, and a view of trees can even improve the job satisfaction of office workers. Research has also found that patients in hospital rooms with views of trees made fewer requests for pain medication and experienced a speedier recovery following surgery than did patients with views of streets and buildings.

No longer can we disregard the psychological benefits of the environment upon our health.

Today with thanks to satellite technology we can precisely quantify the amount of green space in a given residential area. Correlate this data with large health databases and findings are highly persuasive towards the power of trees in recovery.

One recent study in Toronto correlated a base of 530,000 council categorised trees and the health records of 30,000 patients with cardio-metabolic conditions and found that on average an increase of 11 trees per city block was “comparable to an increase in annual personal income of $20,000 and moving to a neighbourhood with $20,000 higher median income or being 1.4 years younger.”

(Source: Chris Mooney, The Washington Post, Scientists have discovered that living near trees is good for your health July 9, 2015)

The trees featured below offer year-round interest. They are big enough to make a statement, be seen from balconies and over smaller structures. A view over trees from a hospital balcony has been noted to assist recovery. And it's no wonder they have this emotive impact with us as they are just so beautiful.