Green space helped protect the mental health of city-bound Canadians during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study suggests, even as the number of people with depression surged.

People living in greener neighbourhoods were less likely to be depressed in the first months of the pandemic, said the study published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One, with stronger benefits for those who weren’t already depressed.

That protective lifeline was also more pronounced for people with mobility issues or lower incomes, though only among those who weren’t already depressed, the study said.

“The protective effects during the pandemic could be because green spaces act as a refuge from financial and other stressors and the restorative and therapeutic effects of accessing nature,” read

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