Stress levels of unemployed people are linked more to their surroundings than their age, gender, disposable income, and degree of deprivation, a study shows. The presence of parks and woodland in economically deprived areas may help people cope better with job losses, post traumatic stress disorder, chronic fatigue and anxiety, researchers say.
They found that people's stress levels are directly related to the amount of green space in their area – the more green space, the less stressed a person is likely to be.
The study shows that for every one per cent increase in green space there was a corresponding steeper decline in stress levels. Where there is more green space, people tend to respond better to disruptive events, either by not getting as stressed in the first place or by coping better.
Participants were also asked to self-diagnose their stress levels and these results directly related to the percentage of local green space. People with more green space had lower levels of self-reported stress.
For the first time, researchers have worked with unemployed people from deprived areas and used scientific tests to show that, where there is more green space around, people's stress levels were measurably lower, while less green space was linked with signs of the body's hormones not working properly."
Exercise was another factor found to reduce stress, but it may not be related to exercising in park land. People reported feeling less stressed if they lived in areas with more green space, regardless of how much exercise they did.
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