Living in a neighborhood with lots of green spaces, such as parks and gardens, had already been associated with numerous health benefits, from a lower risk of suffering from diseases such as metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases, or breast cancer, to less chances of elderly develop cognitive impairment, or that children suffer from psychiatric disorders. Now, a study with Spanish participation has also found that women who live near green areas are less likely to have premenstrual syndrome (PMS).
About 20% of women of reproductive age suffer from what is known as PMS, which causes a set of physical and psychological disorders that impair their quality of life in the days before the onset of menstruation. In the new study, carried out by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a center promoted by the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation, and the University of Bergen (Norway), more than 1,000 women between the ages of the cities of Bergen (Norway), and Gothenburg, Umeå and Upsala (Sweden), from the RHINESSA European cohort.
The objective of the researchers, whose study has been published in Environment International, was to see if living near urban green spaces could help prevent or reduce the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. The participants answered a questionnaire in which they reported on their lifestyle, physical activity and reproductive health, and indicated if they suffered from any of the eight characteristic symptoms of PMS: irritability, anxiety, more sensitivity or propensity to cry, depression, sleep problems , abdominal pain, breast tenderness or bloating, and headaches.
“More and more scientific studies conclude that green spaces are beneficial for our health, so urban policymakers should prioritize natural environments”
The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used to calculate the amount of green areas close to the participants’ homes. In addition, BMI was measured and residential exposure to air pollution was estimated –nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter PM2.5 and PM10–.
Contact with nature reduces PMS symptoms
The results showed that women who lived in neighborhoods with more green spaces had fewer PMS symptoms and were less likely to experience four of the eight symptoms studied: anxiety, depression, sleep difficulties, and breast tenderness and abdominal bloating.
“When exposure to green spaces was analyzed at a specific moment in time, the analysis did not yield any significant results, so our study points to the importance of exposure to green spaces in the long term, where the effects were found. benefits against PMS symptoms”, says Payam Dadvand, ISGlobal researcher and study coordinator.
“Three of the four symptoms that improved with exposure to green spaces were psychological, which is consistent with what we already knew: contact with nature is beneficial for reducing stress and improving mental health,” explains Kai Triebner, researcher at the University of Bergen and first author of the publication. “Stress can worsen PMS symptoms by increasing levels of the hormone cortisol, which, in turn, may be associated with increased progesterone release, which has been linked to the onset of PMS symptoms,” he adds. he.
“There are more and more scientific studies that conclude that green spaces are beneficial for our health, but in many cities we do not have enough or they are not close to the population, so urban policymakers should prioritize natural environments as something essential for our health”, concludes Dadvand.
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