Credit: pinterest.com

Many of us plant trees, shrubs, and other plants around our homes to beautify our surroundings. A study published earlier this month in Environmental Health Perspectives reveals that this attractive greenery has another significant benefit as well — people living in greener neighborhoods may live longer.

Scientists from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts assessed the greenness surrounding the homes of 108,630 women. They then tracked changes in both the vegetation and participants’ deaths from 2000 to 2008. The scientists discovered that women with the most vegetation around their homes experienced a 12 percent lower death rate than those living in the least green areas.

The biggest differences were observed in death rates from kidney disease, respiratory disease, and cancer. Women residing in the top 20 percent of green areas were 41 percent less likely to die from kidney disease than those living in the lowest 20 percent. They had a 34 percent lower death rate for respiratory disease and 13 percent lower death rate for cancer. No significant relationship appeared to exist between greenness and […]