A new study found that inner-city kids living in neighborhoods with more green space gained about 13% less weight over a two-year period than kids living amid more concrete and fewer trees. Such 【62】______ tell a powerful story. The obesity epidemic began in the 1980s, and many people 【63】______ it to increased portion sizes and inactivity, but that can't be everything. Fast foods and TVs have been 【】______ us for a long time. "Most experts agree that the changes were 【65】______ to something in the environment," says social epidemiologist Thomas Glass of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. That something could be a 【66】______ of the green.

The new research, 【67】______ in the American Journal of Prive Medicine, isn't the first to associate greenery with better health, but it does get us closer 【68】______ identifying what works and why. At its most straightforward, a green neighborhood 【69】_____ means more places for kids to play—which is 【70】______ since time spent outdoors is one of the strongest correlates of children's activity levels. But green space is good for the mind 【71】______ ;research by environmental psychologists has shown that it has cognitive 【72】______ for children with attention-deficit disorder. In one study, just reading 【73】______ in a green setting improved kids' symptoms.

【74】______ to grassy areas has also been linked to 【75】______ stress and a lower body mass index (体重指数) among s. And an 【76】______ of 3,000 Tokyo residents associated walk able green spaces with greater longevity (长寿) among senior citizens.

Glass cautions that most studies don't 【77】______ prove a causal link between greenness and health, but they're nonetheless helping spur action. In September the U. S. House of Representatives 【78】______ the delightfully named No Child Left Inside Act to encourage public initiatives aimed at exposing kids to the outdoors.

Finding green space is not 【79】______ easy, and you may have to work a bit to get your family a little grass and trees. If you live in a suburb or a city with good parks, take 【80】______ of what's there. Your children in particular will love it—and their bodies and minds will be 【81】______ to you.

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