Individuals residing in green neighbourhoods have a significantly lower likelihood of smoking and a higher likelihood of successfully quitting, a study published in the Social Science & Medicine suggests.
A team of psychologists at the University of Plymouth, the University of Exeter and the University of Vienna collected data from >8000 adults who participated in the Health Survey for England. The researchers analysed the participants’ responses to questions regarding health, residence and other lifestyle factors.
Nineteen per cent of the respondents said they were current smokers and 45 per cent said they were regular smokers at some point during their lives.
Individuals residing in areas with a high proportion of greenspace were 20 per cent less likely to be current smokers than those residing in less green areas. Among those who reported smoking regularly at some point during their lives, residents from greener neighbourhoods were up to 12 per cent more likely to have successfully quit smoking.
Lead author, Leanne Martin from the University of Plymouth said: "If our findings are substantiated by further work, nature-based interventions could be prescribed to assist individuals attempting to give up smoking."
