Woodland access in urban areas linked to reduced antidepressant use

Improving and maintaining woodlands in deprived communities is linked with reduced use of antidepressant and anti-anxiety medication, new research involving researchers from the School of GeoSciences suggests.

Researchers at the Universities of Edinburgh in collaboration with the University of Glasgow analysed data from more than 129,000 people over five years - one of the largest studies of its kind - to assess how investment in local woodlands around Scottish towns affects mental health.

The Edinburgh team was led by researchers from the OPENspace Research Centre in the College of Art alongside researchers from the School of GeoSciences.

Using NHS prescription records and census data, the study found that people in deprived urban communities living within a 10-minute walk of an improved woodland were 10% less likely to be prescribed antidepressants and 6% less likely to be prescribed anti-anxiety medication than those living further away. This was the case even when accounting for other factors linked to mental health outcomes, such as demographics and poverty.

The benefit of living near these woodlands showed up for the same people even when their proximity to these woodlands changed. For example, when someone moved closer to an improved woodland, their need for medication went down.

By tracking the same individuals over time, the researchers say they can be more confident that it was the woodland improvements making the difference, rather than simply healthier or wealthier people happening to live in greener areas.

This study lets us move beyond the question of whether people who live near nature are just healthier to begin with, and instead track what happens to the same person's mental health as their access to a well-maintained woodland changes. That's a much more powerful test, and it's one we've rarely been able to run at this scale. It means we can be far more confident that it's the woodland improvement itself doing the work, not simply that healthier or wealthier people tend to end up living near nicer green space.

The research provides stronger evidence on the mental health benefits of woodland improvements for local communities than was possible in earlier studies. It also shows that these benefits may contribute to reducing inequalities in health across the population.

The woodlands studied had been upgraded through Scottish Forestry's Woods In and Around Towns (WIAT) initiative, which funded new footpaths, better signage, and community events in socially and financially disadvantaged areas.

The research used census data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study which tracks the lives and health of thousands of people in Scotland to help researchers understand what affects people’s wellbeing.

The study is published in The Lancet Planetary Health and was supported by the ESRC and the UKPRP-funded GroundsWell Consortium.

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