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Article: "Do People Live Longer among Trees?"
Institute for Creation Research ^ | January 28, 2013. | Brian Thomas

Posted on 01/28/2013 10:21:05 AM PST by fishtank

Do People Live Longer among Trees? by Brian Thomas, M.S. *

Could living near trees possibly affect human health? Increasingly, studies indicate that trees can improve human health. Evolution doesn't expect this, but biblically speaking, trees and people have close ties.

New research included steps to demonstrate that living longer was not linked to living among trees, but instead linked to more sensible factors "like income, race, and education," according to the Pacific Northwest Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service based in Portland.1 But the researchers found that cardiovascular health clearly declined in people from very different ethnic, income, and educational backgrounds in the absence of trees.

Geoffrey Donovan of the U.S. Forest Service was the lead author in the study, which appeared in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.2 The study included data from 15 states spanning 18 years.

For example, during the last decade, the emerald ash borer beetle parasitized and killed untold numbers of 22 species of North American ash trees across the eastern and Midwestern United States. After that happened, 15,000 additional people in those areas died of cardiovascular disease.

What is the real cause of these phenomena? The researchers don't know, but the data fit with the strange idea that broken trees may lead to broken hearts.

In the evolutionary mindset, what survival advantage would people have from just seeing strong trees? And how can evolution explain people's health deteriorating when trees wither?

In contrast to evolutionary origins myths, trees play a surprisingly strong role in actual human history. The book of Genesis uses the word "tree" 28 times, for example. Its fourth instance occurs in Genesis 2:9: "And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food." So, right from the beginning, trees were identified as sources of food and of beauty.3

The Bible also says about the believer, "His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon."4 Clearly, God made trees for the purpose of bringing pleasure to people.5 Are researchers uncovering evidence of this God-made link between man and trees?

References

Tree and human health may be linked. Pacific Northwest Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service press release, January 16, 2013.

Donovan, G. et al. 2013. The Relationship Between Trees and Human Health. Journal of Preventative Medicine. 44 (2):139-145. This biblical link deepens when one considers that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, "whom they slew and hanged on a tree" (Acts 10:39), is mankind's only hope of eternal pleasure. "In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Psalm 16:11). Hosea 14:6. Of course, the right response to this provision of pleasure is to praise God.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.

Article posted on January 28, 2013.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: creation; trees

Photo from article.

(The beetles killed these trees....)

1 posted on 01/28/2013 10:21:13 AM PST by fishtank
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To: fishtank

I can’t live without my trees.


2 posted on 01/28/2013 10:28:01 AM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: fishtank

Yes, but the trees don’t.


3 posted on 01/28/2013 10:28:09 AM PST by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God!!)
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To: fishtank

Yes — because leaves make better toilet paper than rocks.


4 posted on 01/28/2013 10:40:27 AM PST by Uncle Chip
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To: fishtank
Do People Live Longer among Trees

Probably not if "AXEMEN" is real.

5 posted on 01/28/2013 10:43:08 AM PST by Starstruck (If I were a communist, socialist or fascist, l I would be for gun control.)
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To: fishtank

No.....rutabagas.....that’s the secret to long life.


6 posted on 01/28/2013 10:53:12 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: fishtank

It’s because man descended from trees.


7 posted on 01/28/2013 11:01:15 AM PST by Paladin2
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To: Paladin2

My Great, Great Uncle Horace was descended from a tree. He was a horse thief.


8 posted on 01/28/2013 11:03:21 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: fishtank

How many people were killed last year by falling tree branches?


9 posted on 01/28/2013 11:07:32 AM PST by ßuddaßudd (>> F U B O << "What the hell kind of country is this if I can only hate a man if he's white?")
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To: blueunicorn6
"Every year, the outlaws swing out of the trees, rob the merchants and ride back to Washington D.C. for a glorious feast over the stolen goods,...."
10 posted on 01/28/2013 11:11:03 AM PST by Paladin2
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To: fishtank
In Japan they are going wild on this idea and there is an excellent writing on this in Outside magazine, called "Take two hours of pine forest and call me in the morning" as I recall.

In which they show that being outside in nature lowers your blood pressure - they showed this years ago with people watching fish tanks though. And no surprise, sitting at a computer terminal does not help with depression or stress like being outside does.

There is some good science coming into it, as they are working on brain scans, etc in Tokyo to show that being out in nature, ie among trees, is good for us. I am following this and finding it interesting.

11 posted on 01/28/2013 11:11:35 AM PST by MarMema
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To: fishtank

did anyone stop to think that perhaps there are other factors...like, say, those who live in low rent housing have no trees around, while those in the suburbs are surrounded by trees——meaning incomes, nutrition, education, etc are the causal factors, and the trees are just collateral?


12 posted on 01/28/2013 11:13:06 AM PST by C. Edmund Wright
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To: fishtank

Homosexuals don’t “camp-out”.


13 posted on 01/28/2013 11:22:28 AM PST by Last Dakotan
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To: fishtank

I sure HOPE so; I sell trees for a living! :)


14 posted on 01/28/2013 11:22:53 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
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To: fishtank

I live in the city and spend most summer weekends and vacations in a heavily treed cottage at a lake. At the cottage I feel more energetic, have a healthy appetite, and sleep better than I do at home. I have always attributed it to the much richer supply of oxygen in the air due to the trees.


15 posted on 01/28/2013 11:24:22 AM PST by layman (Card Carrying Infidel)
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To: Paladin2
It’s because man descended from trees.

But then we keep climbing back up into them.

16 posted on 01/28/2013 11:43:53 AM PST by Disambiguator (Gun ownership is pro-life.)
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To: Paladin2

That’s one of my favorite Barry Manilow songs.


17 posted on 01/28/2013 12:23:56 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: fishtank

I wouldn’t doubt it. Trees give off a lot of oxygen, and a good oxygen supply would seem to be pretty obviously linked to good health. They also provide a lot of shade, and baking in the sun all the time can’t be the great for your long-term prospects. A lot of trees probably also grow well in places that are otherwise healthier for humans as well. I live in a 68-acre planned development with 2000 trees, many of them huge, so this bodes well for me!


18 posted on 01/28/2013 12:45:36 PM PST by Behind the Blue Wall
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To: fishtank
Do People Live Longer among Trees?

If by "trees" you mean "beer," I'd have to say yes.

19 posted on 01/28/2013 1:24:14 PM PST by GnL
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To: fishtank

I don’t know if one lives longer living among trees. But I do know life isn’t worth the bother without them!


20 posted on 01/28/2013 1:27:58 PM PST by AuntB (Illegal immigration is simply more "share the wealth" socialism and a CRIME not a race!)
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