Green Spaces Are the Place for Me

The campy ’60s sitcom “Green Acres” was brilliant television imitating life: “Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.” Even for those who “get allergic smelling hay,” a connection with the natural world not only promotes better physical health, but leads to much better mental health than people who claim “New York is where I’d rather stay.”

A study in the Netherlands found that green space had a huge impact on mental health, and a study in Tokyo concluded that senior citizens who lived near green spaces where they could walk lived longer than their concrete-bound peers. Both studies were reported in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community.

This is valuable scientific knowledge that explains why activities such as backpacking, hiking, strolling among falling leaves or taking a kite out for an afternoon are not goofing off but necessary to promote and maintain good physical and mental health.

Naturally, there is a downside. “Land spreading out, so far and wide” can be very disorienting. A report published in Current Biology shows that people who try to walk a straight course through unfamiliar territory actually walk in circles. The researchers are delighted to have scientific evidence to back up a pop culture belief.

"The stories about people who end up walking in circles when lost are actually true," said Jan Souman of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany. "People cannot walk in a straight line if they do not have absolute references, such as a tower or a mountain in the distance or the sun or moon."

The researchers had their test subjects walk in a forest and in the Sahara Desert. Sure enough, when there are no reference points, the participants walked in large circles, even crossing their paths without noticing.

People who head to a nearby park won’t need to worry about getting lost. But the wilder the green space and the more unfamiliar the trail, the more likely trouble becomes.

Consider two possible scenarios:

1.    Some very healthy people will get lost, then wander in circles and completely evade any rescuers (of course, that good health will aid the survival of the fittest).

2.    Bumbling newcomers to the outdoors will maintain serenity and calm no matter how far from their beloved “penthouse view” they stray. Before they left Park Avenue and the stores, they bought a GPS unit.

There it is: Acres and acres of land, pollutant-filtering trees, free-flowing rivers, mountains and meadows beckon, and we’ll all be the better for visiting.

Green spaces, “We are there.”