Living near the park is still lazy to exercise

Living close to a green place does not make people exercise much more, researchers say.

"We found that there was no (or no significant) association between the healthy living environment and physical activity," Jolanda Maas, from the Institute of Nivel in Utrecht, Netherlands, said.

In fact, people who live near parks or green parks in the city or in the countryside are less likely to walk and ride bicycles, each time if they are shorter than the other residents, the research team announced BioMed Central Public Health magazine.

(Photo: Reuters)

People living in houses with 20% of the surrounding greenery walk about 250 minutes per week during a break, compared with 180 minutes for those around the house who have 80% greenery covered.

This is explained by the fact that people who live in more woody environments need to use the means to go to places like shops, schools and hospitals .

"Research shows that you don't really need new green space to improve physical activity," Maas said.