Health Benefits and Tips

In the last two decades, childhood has moved indoors. The average American child spends as few as 30 minutes in unstructured outdoor play each day and more than seven hours each day in front of an electronic screen.

This shift inside profoundly impacts the wellness of our nation’s kids. Childhood obesity rates have more than doubled in the last 20 years; the United States has become the largest consumer of ADHD medications in the world; and pediatric prescriptions for antidepressants have risen precipitously.

Benefits to Body, Mind, and Spirit

Our kids are out of shape, tuned out, and stressed out because they’re missing something essential to their health and development: connection to the natural world. According to the report, Whole Child: Developing Mind, Body, and Spirit Through Outdoor Play, the benefits of getting kids in nature can be seen on many levels.

Body

• Outdoor play increases fitness levels and builds active, healthy bodies, an important strategy in helping the one in three American kids who are obese get fit.
• Spending time outside raises levels of vitamin D, helping protect children from future bone problems, heart disease, diabetes, and other health issues.
• Being outside improves distance vision and lowers the chance of nearsightedness.

Mind

• Exposure to natural settings may be widely effective in reducing ADHD symptoms.
• Schools with environmental education programs score higher on standardized tests in math, reading, writing, and listening.
• Exposure to environment-based education significantly increases student performance on tests of their critical thinking skills.

Spirit

• Children’s stress levels fall within minutes of seeing green spaces.
• Play protects children’s emotional development, whereas loss of free time and a hurried lifestyle can contribute to anxiety and depression.
• Nature makes children nicer, enhancing social interactions, value for community, and close relationships.

Dirt Improves Health and Happiness

While many times getting our hands dirty is frowned upon, the National Wildlife Federation's report—The Dirt on Dirt: How Getting Dirty Outdoors Benefits Kids—has some new facts and figures that may have parents steering their kids toward the nearest mud puddle. Getting a little dirty in the great outdoors—far from being a bad thing—helps children lead happier, healthier lives.

When we let our kids play in dirt, we're not only allowing them to explore the wonders around them, we are also exposing them to healthy bacteria, parasites, and viruses that will inevitably create a much stronger immune system. Many kids who live in an ultra-clean environment have a greater chance of suffering from allergies, asthma, and other autoimmune diseases that we would otherwise be protected from through the simple pleasure of playing with some nice common dirt.

Studies have shown that simply having contact with dirt, whether it's through gardening, digging holes, or making pies out of mud, can significantly improve a child's mood and reduce anxiety and stress. With antidepressant use in kids on the rise, an increasing number of experts are recognizing the role of nature in enhancing kids' mental health. Dirt can even improve classroom performance.

Outdoor Time Improves Sleep

Many U.S. parents are surprised to learn that their children suffer from persistent sleep deprivation—as much as two hours per day. There are numerous reasons: busy schedules, addiction to television and electronic games, and lack of knowledge about the amount needed. According to the National Wildlife Federation's report, Green Time for Sleep Time: Three Ways Nature and Outdoor Time Improve Your Child’s Sleep, the reality is American children are spending an average of more than seven hours a day staring at electronic media entertainment. Building some outdoor time into children's schedules will help them get a better night’s sleep and receive the associated physical, emotional, and cognitive benefits. Here are three ways outdoor time improves a child’s sleep:

• Sleep-inducing natural light: Regular doses of bright natural light help children stay more alert during the day, elevate their moods, and make it easier to sleep at night. Exposure to outdoor light in the morning actually helps set their body clock for a better and earlier night’s sleep.
• The soothing dimensions of more time in nature: Nature has a way of comforting children. It can take away stress and be a haven for kids who are otherwise feeling the pressures of school, family, and social demands. Research has found that children who suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) get significant relief from their symptoms and are able to concentrate better if they spend some time outdoors.
• Outdoor exercise is better for children than indoors: Exercise can release soothing endorphins into the blood stream and can help with the production of melatonin. Outdoor play encourages activities such as climbing, jumping, running, and tumbling that promote muscle fitness and flexibility. Research shows that moderate to vigorous physical activity in childcare settings increased from one percent indoors to as much as 11 percent outdoors. When outdoor play was child-led, the amount of time further increased to 17 percent.

Balancing Screen Time and Green Time

How do parents balance the role of technology in their kids’ lives with the simple pleasures and lasting benefits of outdoor play? Better yet, how do they use technology to get kids moving, exploring, and interacting with the outdoor world around them?

The National Wildlife Federation takes an in-depth look at how to balance screen time with green time in the report, Friending Fresh Air: Connecting Kids to Nature in the Digital Age, offering insight on how to use technology and still connect your kids to nature.

Technology can be a wonderful tool for learning and playing, but kids require a balance of screen and green experiences to grow up happy and healthy. Kids, and even parents, need time to recharge their own batteries, so it's also important to remember the value of unplugging completely and enjoying some disconnected time to connect with nature.

Helpful tips for bridging the indoor/outdoor gap with technology:

• Use technology to help plan outdoor time or inspire your next outdoor adventure.
• If they love it, embrace it, and take it outside!
• Keep a record of your experiences with the help of electronics to take photos, make videos, or keep an electronic journal of adventures and discoveries.

Tips for Healthcare Providers

By recommending that patients establish healthy behaviors early, such as daily time outdoors, medical doctors and mental health practitioners can help reduce negative impacts on kids’ health. By taking the following actions, healthcare providers can lead the charge toward whole child wellness:

• Add three to five questions about outdoor time and media habits to intake forms/risk assessments. Plus, inform parents of the link between outdoor time and better health.
• Write a prescription for regular outdoor time.
• Include links to outdoor activities on their websites.
• Instruct parents to create a nature journal that catalogs outdoor activities with their kids and the effect it has on their children’s mood.
• Remind parents to limit plugged-in time.