Scottish researchers have produced the first large-scale evidence that improving woodland areas near towns genuinely reduces the need for antidepressant and anti-anxiety medication, particularly in deprived urban communities. The study, from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, matters because it moves beyond anecdotal claims about nature's benefits to hard prescribing data, strengthening the case for using green space investment as a public health tool that could also help narrow health inequalities.

The team, whose work was published in The Lancet Planetary Health, analysed NHS prescription and census records for more than 129,000 people over five years. They found that residents of deprived areas living within a ten-minute walk of a woodland that had been made more welcoming and accessible were 10% less likely to be prescribed antidepressants and 6% less likely to be prescribed anti-anxiety medication, even after accounting for demographics and poverty. Researchers, including Professor Catharine Ward Thompson and Dr Scott Ogletree, linked the findings to Scottish Forestry's Woods In and Around Towns programme and are urging policymakers to integrate nature-based initiatives into public health strategy, with the Scottish Government reaffirming a target of creating 18,000 hectares of woodland annually by 2029/30.