A recent study found that children who grow up in greener environments have higher lung function.
Under the direction of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), 35,000 children's data from eight different European nations were examined in this study, including Denmark, France, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK.
It discovered a "strong" correlation between improved lung function and early childhood exposure to green environments.
Moreover, the maximum volume of air that an individual can exhale without any time restriction after taking a deep breath was shown to be lower among those residing in closer proximity to green spaces.
Lead author of the study Martine Vrijheid said: “Our findings highlight the importance of integrating green spaces into urban environments for better respiratory health, also in children.
“If the way cities are configured is a factor that contributes to inequality, urban planning that consciously contributes to alleviating inequity is important.”
What benefits do green areas have for respiratory health?
Although the authors of the study acknowledge that there is still much to learn about how green spaces impact lung function, they do have some thoughts.
To assess if green areas had an effect prior to delivery, they also examined the mothers' home addresses during the time of the pregnancy. The lack of a correlation between greenness and any respiratory health markers suggests that childhood experiences are related to increased lung function.Children from all socioeconomic backgrounds showed improved lung function, but the effect was more pronounced in those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds.
“One possible explanation for this could be that families with higher education or income may have access to higher-quality, safer and better-maintained green areas,” says Amanda Fernandes, another study author and ISGlobal researcher.
The proximity of youngsters to rivers or the sea, also known as a "blue space", was also examined by the researchers, but they were unable to discover any connection with the health of the children's lungs. Less than one per cent of the children in this study, however, lived within 800 metres of blue space, thus a connection cannot be ruled out for shorter distances.
