What do hospitals and Costa Rica have in common? Science says: they both benefit from beautiful natural landscapes.
In fact, we all do.
If you've ever spent any time in hospitals, you know they can be anxious, painful places. Gardens offset this intrinsic stress with the calm of nature, whether experienced in person, through a window, or just in pictures. It may sound subjective, but the benefits--from lowering blood pressure to easing brain fatigue--are anything but.
Nature improves the lives of patients and doctors, the sick and the healthy, and even people who have nothing to do with hospitals. Consider the case of Costa Rica.
According to the World Database of Happiness, from 2000-2009 Costa Ricans reported the highest life satisfaction of any nationality on the planet. Recent research presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science suggests that this small Central American country owes its happiness to two factors: human capital, the strength of social support, and natural capital, the quality of the natural environment and people’s access to it.