By Linda Williams
Those homeowners digging their heels in the sand and insisting on protesting lawn culture should time to rethink their platform. Unfortunately, misconceptions spread through word of mouth lead homeowners to believe that natural grass lawns are only good for adding cosmetic value to their home.
Though increasing your curb appeal is a legitimate reason to consider natural grasses over turf alternatives, you’ll want to do a double take on natural grass lawns’ health benefits. If you’ve recently purchased a home, utilizing high-quality grass seed is well worth the added costs. For one, these natural grasses enhance your lawn’s appearance, attracting interested buyers. Coupled with smart planting practices, seeding a lawn can also spike your property’s value and leave a positive mark on your mental and physical well-being.
Still not convinced? Read on for more unspoken benefits of a natural lawn turf simply can’t compete with.
Purer air and better overall air quality
In Los Angeles, most homeowners won’t turn up their noses at the opportunity to improve the air quality in their general vicinity. Along with surrounding trees and shrubbery, grass lawns can purify the air around your home. How? Grass traps impurities in the atmosphere and moves harmful air particles to the root zone, where silt and dust eventually return to the soil.
Overall, this natural process improves the air quality around your home, giving your respiratory health a drastic makeover. This improvement alone is a compelling reason to consider a natural lawn for your house.
Recreation and sport opportunities
Residing in sunny LA County affords families in the area with the opportunity to enjoy warm weather all year long. By investing in a natural grass lawn, you and your family will be able to exercise outside or play sports together.
Remember, maintaining an active lifestyle is the cornerstone of physical health. With a flourishing lawn steps away, your loved ones can roughhouse, participate in a game of soccer or flag football, or even soak up some sun during a backyard yoga session. With healthy grass within walking distance, logging your 30+ minutes of exercise each day will be a breeze.
Increased physical wellbeing
Studies have shown that exposure to natural greenery can positively affect your physical health. For instance, a few minutes spent admiring thriving shrubs and sturdy oak trees can decrease blood pressure, reduce muscle tension, improve attention, and increase your mental clarity. Two studies on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder have shown that children who exhibit ADHD symptoms show improvements when recharging in a luscious green environment.
If your family has a dog or has recently adopted an animal, spending time outside with your pet will also allow you to bond with your pup and savor a breath of fresh air.
Less heat surrounding your home
One of the most notable benefits of adding a lawn to your LA home is the cooling properties of a well-seeded front yard. If you’re sensitive to heat, seeding a lawn can help keep the ground surrounding your home 30% cooler than asphalt and 14% cooler than soil.
Besides protecting your home’s residents from the blistering heat, a flourishing lawn can help homeowners save money by decreasing the amount of A/C needed to cool your home. Extreme heat in excess can wreak havoc on your physical health, and with temperature trends only surging upward every year, adding a lawn could be a great preventative measure to take for your family’s health.
Mental health benefits
There have been numerous studies regarding the mental health benefits that accompany living in a landscaped area. Unbeknownst to most, putting work into your lawn can provide you with a sense of accomplishment, serenity, and even relaxation.
If you’re working remotely, views complete with patch-free and vibrant green lawns can decrease stress levels and increase productivity compared to metropolitan cityscapes. Even patients in hospitals with landscaped scenes outside their windows have seen faster recoveries than their counterparts with only man-made structures for viewing.
Parting shot
Adding a lawn to your house’s plan is a surefire way to guarantee a sense of calm in your outdoor living spaces. Whether you plan to seed your yard to take advantage of the practical benefits of a healthy lawn (i.e., reduced noise pollution, improved soil structure, etc.), or you simply enjoy the appearance of a pristine front yard, the work involved is worth the payoff.
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Gary Kuehn says
Guess you forgot to mention obscene water consumption in a drought-prone state (Ca)……and the use of pesticides (re weeds & “bugs”) that kill not only their intended targets, but beneficial bugs, and the birds that eat them, as well. Then there are the numerous disease conditions that have been attributed, in humans, to glyphosate and others…..the lawn chemicals that get washed into waterways during storms and kill or cause genetic and other disease in fish and other aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates….and the residual toxicity in soil that can last for years. Not certain what you mean by a “natural” grass lawn. Certainly most, if not all, commercial lawn grasses are not non-GMO species native to this area. And I very much doubt that you’re pushing lawns sans pesticides and artificial fertilizers….so how are the touted lawns “natural”? Need to shift focus to plants that are adapted to this climate and these soils.