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Urban Green Spaces, they’re good for your health and the environment!

By Fiona Goode, 2nd year medical students as part of the #TCDMedStudentInitiative on Healthy Trinity Instagram

The effect of social interaction on your health.

A group of people sitting on the grass in front of a building Description automatically generated with medium confidence Due to the COVID-19 pandemic we have all had to get used to interacting with each other less than we would normally, but what impact has this had on our health? Lack of social interaction not only influences our mental health, such as increasing the risk of depression, anxiety, and stress, but can also affect our physical health. It has been shown that people who do not socialise regularly can be affected by decreased blood flow to vital organs and decreased immune function. This can be linked to chronic heart disease, arthritis, and type 2 diabetes.

Urban Green Spaces and their influence on socialising and health.

Urban Green spaces are open areas within cities that have plant life as well as other kinds of nature. These spaces encourage us to spend time with each other outdoors away from the stress associated with urban lifestyle. Urban green spaces also encourage social cohesion which not only improves our mental health but can also promote decreased smoking and alcohol intake, and increased physical activity, which are all beneficial to your health.

Urban Green Spaces and the environment.

By using and adding more green spaces to our cities we are not only helping ourselves, we are also helping our planet. Green spaces reduce air and noise pollution and improve the biodiversity within our cities.

Green Spaces in Trinity.

Currently Trinity is aiming to “increase tree numbers by 10%, increase green areas and increase biodiversity rich areas by 5%”. But there still are plenty of green spaces on campus that you can use to spend time with friends, meet new people and enjoy nature, which will both improve your health and encourage Trinity and other organisations to invest in green spaces.

So go out on campus, enjoy the natural environment, and also think about where else in our city could be greener!

Here's a video of Trinity students enjoying our urban green spaces. Urban green spaces benefit people and the planet.