Green means healthy outside of hospitals, too. Office workers with nature views are more
1 about their jobs, less frustrated, in better health and more satisfied with their
2 , according to one study. According to another, prison inmates whose cells looked out on farm fields needed far less health care than those whose cells faced a
3 internal courtyard. Psychologists have found that exposure
4 trees, streams and other natural features improves concentration, creativity and emotional functioning. In one study. Frances Kuo, PhD, a psychologist who
5 the Landscape and Human Health Laboratory at the University of Illinois, and her colleagues showed that 20-minute walks across leafy city parks eases ADHD
6 in kids. A few years ago, Kuo and her research partners tested children in a high-rise Chicago public-housing project to see if a view of nature from their apartments helped them psychologically.
7 with girl who looked out on brick and asphalt, girls who saw trees from their windows concentrated better, acted less
8 and were more able to delay gratification. That
9 better self-discipline, Kuo says, which could help girls better handle the
10 that come their way as they grow up in the projects. The Illinois researchers also showed that areas of the public-housing project with trees and grass had lower levels of crime,
11 violence, noise, litter and graffiti (涂鸦). "When you put all these things together, it's a picture of a healthier neighborhood," Kuo say. Greener neighborhoods may even improve the
12 physical health of their residents. Dutch scientists cross checked the self-reported health of 10,000 people with the greenness of their neighborhoods. After
13 for their income, age and other factors that affect health, they found that people in greener neighborhoods were healthier. In another study, elderly Tokyo residents were significantly more likely to survive
14 another five years if their neighborhood
15 walkable parks and tree-lined streets.