Parks can be a prescription, but who gets them?
When you visit the doctor, you’ll likely be asked about your diet and exercise frequency, and possibly your sleep habits. But there’s another question that may be worth exploring: Do you go to your local park regularly?
Increasingly, research has shown the connection between greenspaces and human health. According to the National Recreation and Park Association, British men living in some of the greenest parts of the country had 5 and 11 percent less risk of cardiovascular and respiratory disease fatality, respectively, than men living in the least-green parts. In Seattle, a 2011 study found that access to parks saved city residents $64 million in medical costs.
Dr. Laura Payne, a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, who studies the relationship between park use and health, also cited a similar finding in Abilene, Texas.
“Only 32 percent of residents have access to a park within about a half mile,” she says. “[If] more people had access to parks, the cost savings in terms of preventable health care [...] would be over $17 million.”
