More green space is linked to less stress in deprived communities: Evidence from salivary cortisol patterns

AbstractGreen space has been associated with a wide range of health benefits, including stress reduction, but much pertinent evidence has relied on self-reported health indicators or experiments in artificially controlled environmental conditions. Little research has been reported using ecologically valid objective measures with participants in their everyday, residential settings. This paper describes the results of an exploratory study (n=25) to establish whether salivary cortisol can act as a biomarker for variation in stress levels which may be associated with varying levels of exposure to green spaces, and whether recruitment and adherence to the required, unsupervised, salivary cortisol sampling protocol within the domestic setting could be achieved in a highly deprived urban population. Self-reported measures of stress and general wellbeing were also captured, allowing exploration of relationships between cortisol, wellbeing and exposure to green space close to home. Results indicate significant relationships between self-reported stress (P<0.01), diurnal patterns of cortisol secretion (P<0.05), and quantity of green space in the living environment. Regression analysis indicates percentage of green space in the living environment is a significant (P<0.05) and independent predictor of the circadian cortisol cycle, in addition to self-reported physical activity (P