Since we don’t have good ways to prevent or treat mild cognitive impairment and dementia, we need to think of new ways to deal with these problems.

A preliminary study published today suggests that closeness to outdoor spaces and water sources may reduce older people’s risk of serious mental trauma, which can lead to mild cognitive impairment and dementia.

According to the study’s authors, “serious psychological distress” refers to diagnosable mental health issues that have a “moderate to severe effect” on daily functioning (i.e., job, school, and social activities) and so need professional help.

“Since we lack effective prevention methods or treatments for mild cognitive impairment and dementia,” comments author Solmaz Amiri, “we need to get creative in how we look at these issues.” 

They hope that “this study showing better mental health among people living close to parks and water will trigger other studies about how these benefits work and whether this proximity can help prevent or delay mild cognitive impairment and dementia.”

In the study, 42,980 people aged 65 or older who lived in cities in the state of Washington were asked to take part.

The proximity of participants’ homes to green and blue areas was determined by researchers using information from the U.S. Census and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Public parks, neighborhood gardens, and cemeteries were all considered to be green space. Lakes, reservoirs, long rivers, and coastlines were all referred to as blue spaces.

To measure psychological discomfort, participants filled out a questionnaire. On a five-point scale with zero denoting never to four denoting always, they responded to six questions about how often they experienced symptoms of sadness and anxiety.

They were asked about things like the number of days they missed from work because of psychological discomfort, the number of days that distress reduced their productivity by at least halving it, and the number of times they sought professional treatment.

There were scores from 0 to 24, with an average of 2. Serious psychological discomfort was deemed to be present in those with test scores more than 13.

According to the researchers, around 2% of the subjects had severe psychological distress.

60% of the participants lived within half a mile of a blue space and 70% of the participants lived within half a mile of a green area.

Living within half a mile of a green or blue area was associated with a 17% reduction in the chance of suffering major psychological distress, compared to living more than half a mile away from such places.

People who lived within a half mile of parks and water were less likely to have serious mental problems than those who lived more than half a mile away (1.3% vs 1.5%).

“Our hope is that this study may help inform public health policies in the future, from where residential facilities are located to programs to improve mental health outcomes of people living in long-term care centers or nursing homes,” adds Amiri.

Individuals may not have properly recalled and reported all aspects of their psychological discomfort, which was a drawback of the research.

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