Could Nature Keep Us Out of the Hospital?

Nature is healing for much of what ails us, and science is here to prove it. New research has found that exposure to natural environments for older adults with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and Parkinson’s disease may reduce their risk of hospitalization.

A US-based cohort study included approximately 62 million Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years or older who lived in the contiguous United States from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2016. The researchers looked at zip-code-level greenness, percentage of park cover, and percentage of blue space (water) cover, as well as hospitalizations.

After adjusting for Medicaid eligibility and median household income, protective associations of greenness, park cover, and blue space cover with Parkinson hospitalization were observed. Greenness was also associated with a lower risk of hospitalization due to Alzheimer disease and related dementias.