0822 The 3-30-300 Rule for Green Space Exposure and Sleep in Elementary School Children

In 2015, the United Nations identified a target of “universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces “to be implemented by 2030. However, few guidelines exist to equitably increase access to the health-promoting qualities of high-quality green space. Recently, the “3-30-300” rule was introduced as a benchmark to ensure universal access to green space. This study aimed to use the 3-30-300 benchmark for green space exposure, to determine whether these metrics are associated with sleep phenotypes in elementary school children.

Elementary school children in grades 1-3 in the ongoing Project Greenspace, Sleep, and Mental Health (G-SPACE) study in Rhode Island were recruited to wear a GPS and an accelerometer for seven days. The 3-30-300 rule was applied to their residential address. ‘3’ was quantified using the Green View Index (GVI), derived from the panoramic street view from Google. ‘30’ refers to a minimum 30% tree canopy within a 200m buffer of the home;‘300’ is based on home distance to ≥50m² greenspace within 300m. The association between the mean greenspace measurements and sleep measures, Total Sleep Time (TST, hours), Sleep Efficiency (SEF), and Wake After Sleep Onset (WASO, minutes) was analyzed using T-tests.

There is no statistically significant difference between viewing more than three trees versus less (TST mean 9.19 vs 8.95, SEF mean 88.5% vs 87.9%, and WASO mean: 37.8 vs. 39.6); having ≥ 30% tree canopy versus less ( TST mean: 9.16 vs 9.01, SEF mean 88.1% vs 88.2%, and WASO mean: 38.4 vs 39 ); and having 50m2 greenspace within 300m versus without (TST mean: 8.94 vs 9.18, SEF mean 88.3% vs 88.2%, and WASO mean: 38.5 vs 38.8).

Participants that met the benchmarks for the 3-30-300 rule did not have better sleep measures compared to those that did not. Due to the multifactorial nature of sleep, this benchmark may not capture the contextually relevant locations that may influence sleep health profiles among children.

Project G-SPACE is supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (R01MD016241) and NIGMS 5P20GM139743