Greener Cities Linked to Better Mental Health Outcomes
Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health
Briana Mercola
4.6 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 13 December 2025
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
- Living in greener neighborhoods is linked to significantly fewer hospitalizations for mental illness, including depression, anxiety, psychosis, and dementia
- A global analysis of 11.4 million cases found that just a small increase in vegetation density reduced mental health hospital admissions by 7%
- Urban residents experienced the strongest benefits — cities with more parks and tree-lined streets saw 13% fewer psychiatric hospitalizations
- Researchers discovered that the ideal balance for mental well-being is when about half your surroundings are green; both too little and too much vegetation reduce benefits
- Spending at least 30 minutes a day in moderate greenery, walking outdoors, or adding plants to your home helps lower stress hormones, boost focus, and improve emotional resilience
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Are you paying a mental health penalty for living without enough green in your day? |
| 0:04.0 | And would adding just a bit more vegetation around you cut your risk of landing in the hospital? |
| 0:09.0 | Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. |
| 0:12.0 | Stay informed with quick, easy-to-listen summaries of our latest articles, perfect for when you're on the go. |
| 0:18.0 | No reading required. Subscribe for free at Mercola.com for the latest |
| 0:21.7 | health insights. Hello and welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. I'm Ethan Foster, and today |
| 0:27.9 | we're unpacking new evidence showing that the amount of greenery in your surroundings can predict |
| 0:32.9 | real differences in depression, anxiety, psychosis, substance use, and even dementia outcomes. |
| 0:39.3 | I'm Alara Sky, and we'll keep this focused on what the data actually show and what you can do. |
| 0:45.2 | The headline is simple. Greener neighborhoods are linked to fewer hospitalizations for mental illness, |
| 0:51.3 | and the strongest benefits show up in cities. |
| 0:55.0 | A global study in the BMJ analyzed 11.4 million psychiatric hospital admissions across |
| 1:01.0 | seven countries from 2000 to 2019. Researchers compared admission rates to local vegetation levels |
| 1:08.0 | and found that for each 0.1 increase in greenness, hospitalizations |
| 1:13.0 | for all mental disorders fell by about 7%. Categories included psychotic disorders, mood |
| 1:20.1 | disorders, anxiety, substance use, behavioral disorders, and dementia. |
| 1:26.1 | The biggest drops were in substance-related and psychotic disorders, around 9% and 7% fewer |
| 1:32.2 | admissions respectively, as greenness increased. |
| 1:36.7 | Dementia and anxiety also moved in the right direction, with roughly 6% and 3% reductions. |
| 1:43.7 | This wasn't a clinic trial with volunteers. It was entire communities, |
| 1:48.0 | and the pattern held at population scale. Urban residents saw the most dramatic effects. |
| 1:54.4 | In cities, greater greenness correlated with about 13%, fewer psychiatric hospitalizations. The authors estimated that adding |
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