[(Title)] Where You Live Could Raise Your Risk of Cognitive Decline: Study.

Living in a neighborhood with more green spaces could slow cognitive decline in older people, according to a study.

一项研究显示，生活在一个更绿的小区可能会减缓老年人认知衰退的速度。

To investigate the potential link between being exposed to greenery and brain health, researchers based in Spain studied 6,500 people in the U.K. aged between 45 and 68 years old.

为了调查接触绿色植物和大脑健康的潜在联系，西班牙的研究人员对英国年龄在45至68岁之间的6,500人进行了研究。

The participants, who were civil servants, were studied twice during a ten-year period from 1997 to 1999 and 2007 to 2009.

他们在1997至1999年和2007至2009年的十年期间，对一批公务员进行了两次研究。

During this time, they completed cognitive tests on three occasions, which measured factors including their short-term memory and their verbal and mathematical skills.

在此期间，这批人完成了三次认知测试，测验了短期记忆和语言及数学技能等因素。

Satellite images were used to calculate how much green space was in each individual's respective neighborhood.

调查人员用卫星图像计算每个受研人员家附近的绿色空间量。

Carmen de Keijzer, lead author of the study and predoctoral fellow at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), told Newsweek:

巴塞罗那全球健康研究所的研究首席作者和博士生卡门说：

"We found that participants living in neighborhoods with more vegetation had a slightly slower cognitive decline than those living in neighborhoods with less vegetation."

我们发现，生活在植被较多社区的受研人员的认知衰退程度略低于生活在植被较少的社区。

Pollution and sedentary lifestyles common in cities might contribute to cognitive decline, evidence suggests.   Getty Images

数据表明，城市中常见的污染和久坐的生活方式可能会加速认知能力下降。

So, should we try to spend as much time in green spaces as possible in order to keep our brains healthy? And should those with little access to such spaces be worried?

那么，我们是否应该尽可能多地在绿地中休息，以保持大脑的健康？

"This difference was small on an individual level; comparing the 25 percent of most green neighborhoods with the 25 percent of the least green neighborhoods, the decline was only 4.6 percent slower over a period of 10 years,"  Keijzer said.

“在个人层面，这一差异很小；将25%的大部分绿区与25%的最小绿区相比较，10年来这一下降幅度只有4.6%。因此，就个人而言，这可能不那么令人关注。

"Therefore, on an individual level, this might be a less source of concern.

Although we did not investigate whether the number of visits to green spaces have an association with cognitive function in this study, we could say that in general green spaces are beneficial for health and that visiting green spaces,

虽然我们没有研究过绿地的数量与本研究的认知功能的具体关联，但我们可以说，绿色环境有益于健康，安全地接触绿色空间普遍来讲都是有益处的。”

in a safe and secure way, is recommendable."

Building an understanding of the causes of cognitive decline is vital if we are to swerve the doubling of dementia cases in the world between 2015 to 2050, as predicted by the World Health Organization.

世界卫生组织的预测，在2015至2050年间，世界上痴呆症病例会翻一番。因此，了解认知衰退的原因至关重要。

And the link to green spaces could be important as currently over half of the world's population lives in cities: a figure expected to rise two thirds by 2050, the authors noted.

认知衰退与绿地的联系可能非常重要，因为目前世界上一半以上的人口生活在城市：这一数字预计到2050年将上升三分之二。

"The results of this study could be useful for policy makers and urban planners, in our rapidly urbanizing world with aging population,"  Dr. Payam Dadvand, assistant research professor at ISGlobal and author of the study, told Newsweek.

ISGlobal的助理研究教授，本研究的作者派亚穆博士说：“这项研究的结果对决策者和城市规划者很有用，在我们人口老化的快速城市化世界中。

Existing evidence indicates that being exposed to urban environmental factors like air pollution and noise, as well as living a stressful, sedentary lifestyle, could contribute to cognitive decline, said Keijzer.

现有的证据表明，空气污染和噪音等城市环境因素，加上生活压力大、久坐的生活方式，这可能导致认知下降。

But living near green spaces appears to have the opposite effect. That could be because people are more likely to exercise, reduce their stress levels and find social support. Green spaces also are generally less polluted by noise and fumes.

但是，生活在靠近绿地的环境似乎具有相反的效果，这可能是因为人们更有可能锻炼身体、减少压力，而绿色空间通常也较少受到噪音和烟尘的污染。

Dadvand acknowledged a limitation of the study was the fact it was based on measurements among civil servants, with only 30 percent of the participants being female and over 90 percent of the participants being white.

研究者承认，该项研究的研究对象中只有30%的参加者为女性，90%以上的参与者为白人。

"The study should be repeated to see if the findings also apply in other settings, climates and cultures," he said.  Further research is also needed to definitively confirm that green spaces cause a slowing of cognitive decline.

他说：“这项研究应该反复进行，看看这些发现是否也适用于其他环境、气候和文化。