--- title: Cognitive Development Children School: How Green Spaces Help Brains description: Exposure to green space at a young age may aid children's cognitive development, according to a landmark new study in the journal PNAS. canonical: https://time.com/3921706/green-spaces-at-school-may-help-kids-brains/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-15T22:02:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:55.244Z article:section: Health og:title: Cognitive Development Children School: How Green Spaces Help Brains og:description: Exposure to green space at a young age may aid children's cognitive development, according to a landmark new study in the journal PNAS. og:url: https://time.com/3921706/green-spaces-at-school-may-help-kids-brains/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cognitive Development Children School: How Green Spaces Help Brains twitter:description: Exposure to green space at a young age may aid children's cognitive development, according to a landmark new study in the journal PNAS. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Green Spaces at School May Help Kids' Brains > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=e2f561e4-6b33-40b0-b481-c7780cb5da8a&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Doctor Fights For Mental Health in Warzone: Loses [Watch (HLS stream): Doctor Fights For Mental Health in Warzone: Loses](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/B2ce7u5n.m3u8) (3:59)  _Published 2014-08-01. Doctor Fights For Mental Health in Warzone: Loses_  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jun 15, 2015 10:02 PM UTC  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jun 15, 2015 10:02 PM UTC Exposure to green space at a young age may aid children’s cognitive development, according to a new [study](http://www.pnas.org/embargo?embargoed-uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pnas.org%2Fcontent%2Fearly%2F2015%2F06%2F09%2F1503402112) in the journal _PNAS_. Researchers, who evaluated data on nearly 2,600 Barcelona schoolchildren between the ages of 7 and 10, found that exposure to green space was correlated with improved working memory and decreased inattentiveness. The results were most remarkable when there was more green space at school. Part of the association can be connected to traffic pollution, which accounted for somewhere between 20% and 65% the effect of being exposed to green space. Green space at school may also increase physical activity and reduce noise, according to the study. Overall, a significant increase in green space at school could end the impairment of nearly 9% of students with impaired working memory, according to the researchers. The researchers used satellite data to assess the greenness of both children’s homes and their schools. Overall, a significant increase in exposure to green spaces resulted in a 5% increase in the development of children’s working memory after a one-year period, as well as a 1% decrease in inattentiveness. Previous research has shown associations between green space and mental and physical health but this is the first study to suggest that exposure to green spaces may aid cognition. The research, still in early stages, needs further work to confirm it. ## Transcript [ FOREIGN ] Some of the worst fighting of the war in East Ukraine actually centered around a mental hospital. It stands just outside the town of Slavyansk. And before the war it was one of the biggest and, and best equipped hospitals in the region. After most of the fighting had moved on from the area, around early July, we got to take a tour of what was left of it with one of the doctors who works there, doctor Yuri Fisun, who had worked as a psychiatrist at the hospital for 35 years before the war broke out. He remembers pretty clearly how it started in May, when the first mortar landed in the hospital complex and it punched a hole right through the ward that houses patents with acute psychological illnesses. [ MUSIC ] But the the two months that followed are kind of a blur in his mind. For a few days, he remembers hiding in a basement with about 20 mentally ill children. Then all the patients were evacuated. And the staff escaped as well. He says no one was killed in the bombing. Which is really kind of a miracle. The condition of the hospital now is really one of the most apocalyptic things that I've ever seen. [ FOREIGN ]. [ UNKNOWN ] Before we went to have a look at the ruins together, Dr. Fasoon hadn't been back there. This is the psychologist's office. And it was really heartbreaking to see him wandering around all the wards in a kind of stupor. You could see how much he loved the place and how he devoted his life to making it the best place for his patients to get treatment and it was all just gone. There were stray dogs wandering around the wards. The roof and the walls in many places had huge holes in them from the impact of mortars. Many of the buildings had collapsed. Others looked like they were about to collapse. There was rubble just laying around everywhere. For me, the hospital is probably the best illustration of the nature of this conflict. The prefered weapon now for boatsides, and especially for the Ukrainian army, is heavy artillery. So, the most reliable form of attack is also the most primitive. You just set up your cannons at a safe distance and open fire. [ FOREIGN ]. Probably the most depressing part of our tour with Dr. Fissun was when he realized there was no way the hospital could be repaired, [ FOREIGN ] It would be cheaper, probably, to build a new one. And in any case, the government doesn't have enough money to spare on such things. At least not any time soon. And he looked really devastated when he realized that. Just when the people in this area need psychological support the most. the facility best suited to provide it is pretty much in total ruins. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3921706/green-spaces-at-school-may-help-kids-brains/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3921706/green-spaces-at-school-may-help-kids-brains/"},"headline":"Green Spaces at School May Help Kids' Brains","datePublished":"2015-06-15T22:02:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:58:55.244Z","description":"A significant increase in exposure to green spaces resulted in a 5% increase in the development of children's working memory","url":"https://time.com/3921706/green-spaces-at-school-may-help-kids-brains/","keywords":["Neuroscience","Public Health"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/neuroscience/","name":"Neuroscience"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3921706/green-spaces-at-school-may-help-kids-brains/","name":"Green Spaces at School May Help Kids' Brains"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Doctor Fights For Mental Health in Warzone: Loses","description":"Doctor Fights For Mental Health in Warzone: Loses","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/B2ce7u5n/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-01T21:22:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/B2ce7u5n.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3921706/green-spaces-at-school-may-help-kids-brains/","duration":"PT3M59S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3921706/green-spaces-at-school-may-help-kids-brains/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```