LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

"Business people and politicians report less emphasis on nature experiences in early childhood than do artists."

"Nature presents the young with something so much greater than they are; it offers an environment where they can easily contemplate infinity and eternity. 

"As of this writing only seven states even require elementary schools to hire certified physical education instructors. This has occurred in a country where 40 percent of five-to-eight-year-olds suffer cardiac risk factors such as obesity"

"Now for some good news. Studies suggest that nature may be useful as a therapy for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), used with or, when appropriate, even replacing medications or behavioral therapies."

"Some researchers now recommend that parents and educators make available more nature experiences - especially green places - to children with ADHD, and thereby support their attentional functioning and minimize their symptoms."

Nature Deficit Disorder: The Top 10 Reasons To Go Outside

That's me climbing a vine in Maui.

Good Article on How to Combat Nature-Deficit Disorder! It creates a good argument for everyone to Go Outside and Play!  Both Adults and Children Benefit From Outdoor Play! 

Most people I meet have Nature Deficit Disorder. That’s just a fancy way of saying they don’t get outdoors much, and are not in-tune with the natural world they live in. Frank Forencich refers to this as likened unto being aliens on our own planet. Erwan Le Corre calls it the zoo human syndrome. I’m sure various governing bodies call it the “epidemic of inactivity.” Call it whatever you want, the truth of the matter is that most people don’t get outside much. If you’re a regular reader here, then you know I’m always recommending that you get outdoors as much as possible. There are many good reasons for this, and it’s a little more than  just “good ‘ol advice.” 

I remember my mother telling me to go play outside when I was a kid. It was supposed to be good for me, but I didn’t understand that then, and I would have much rather played video games or watch TV. Mom was right though, and there’s a lot of wisdom contained in that simple phrase, “go play outside.”

Top 10 Reasons to go Outside

1) Get “away” from it all - Going outside gives you an opportunity to forget about the phone, TV, internet, and to-do lists. We tend to carry our hectic schedule wherever we go, and getting outdoors is one good way to relax and recharge our body and mind.

2) Get moving! – Going outdoors will inspire you to move. You can stretch your legs, or use them over a variety of terrain. This creates a greater development of coordination and the muscles which stabilize the body. Soft and smooth surfaces adorn almost every floor of civilized society, so much so that we’ve literally lost touch with the natural environment around us. Try going barefoot, and you’ll see what I mean about being insensitive to your natural surroundings.

The world is always in movement.   – V. S. Naipaul

3) Get some sunshine that is packed full of vitamin D – Getting enough vitamin D is super-important for maintaining a healthy immune system. This vitamin has been proven to help prevent osteoporosis, cancer, and Alzheimer disease. It also may help in the prevention of Diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and heart disease. You know just as well as I do that supplements don’t really cut it, go for the natural source in the sun.

4) Get an opportunity to take chances, and develop independence – Going outdoors is a little more risky than staying in the safety of the confined indoors. This is an opportunity to try new things, to develop new skills, and test yourself in unique ways such as climbing a tree.

5) It’s good for your eyes – In our mostly seated culture, we tend to focus our eyes directly in front of us when looking at a computer screen or paperwork. There is no overstimulating TV or computer to stare at when you step out into mother nature. Your pupils contract, similar to muscles, when looking at various distances. Simply by walking around outdoors, your eyes have a chance to both focus on the ground in front of you and the landscape around you, which is great exercise for TV and monitor over-stimulated eyes.

Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.    -Henry David Thoreau

6) Get in better touch with nature – There is so much to be experienced out in nature, it’s almost silly to try to classify it in a blogpost. Listen to birds, smell the trees, feel the wind and the heat of the sun. Watch an animal going about its daily routine. Enough said.

To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.       – Helen Keller

7) Get some fresh air – Depending on where you live, going outside involves breathing fresh air. There are no toxic chemicals in the great outdoors – no cleaners, detergents, plastics, building materials to touch or breathe in.

Fresh air makes me throw up. I can’t handle it. I’d rather be around three Denobili cigars blowing in my face all night.    -Frank Sinatra

8) Better mental clarity, longer attention span – Researchers Marc Berman, John Jonides and Stephen Kaplan found memory performance and attention spans improved by 20 percent after people spent an hour interacting with nature. They also believe the findings could have broader impact on helping people who may be suffering from mental fatigue. ya think? (study here)

9) Boost energy levels – Going outdoors has unseen therapeutic effects that actually increase your energy levels, and no one can argue with that!

When I go into the garden with a spade, and dig a bed, I feel such an exhilaration and health that I discover that I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands.    -Ralph Waldo Emerson

One of the most important resources that a garden makes available for use, is the gardener’s own body. A garden gives the body the dignity of working in its own support. It is a way of rejoining the human race.    -Wendell Berry

10) A new, tangible community – When you step outside your doors, you have a chance to enter a whole new environment – not just physically, but relationally too.  By visiting a park, climbing a mountain, or sailing a lake you can make new connections with people that would have never been possible. You will learn more about someone from one hour of playing outside than you will in a year of working with them.

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.     – Anne Frank (one of my favorite authors)

 

The Bottom Line

It’s funny how we know something is right, even good for us, and yet we still need reminders constantly.  Do we really need a top 10 list of reasons why going outside is good for us? I mean, come on – we all know that going outdoors is good medicine, just like we know that getting regular exercise is good for us. I think the problem we are facing is not a lack of useful information, but a lack of compliance and sustainability. Most people either don’t enjoy going outdoors, or they reserve it only for special, infrequent occasions.

That’s the root of the problem right there.

Many health and fitness programs recommend spending time outdoors, listing a selection of benefits similar to the ones above. Sometimes, these programs produce good short-term results, but mostly they teach people to focus on the wrong thing: the benefits (or the consequences of NOT following the program).

I’d like to offer you a different approach to health and fitness. I want you to seek after experiences that are rewarding in and of themselves, activities that you will do for their own sake. Going outside is fun, even liberating for some people. It can change your entire perspective if you’ll allow it.

Even though setting specific goals is an essential part of training, long-term lifestyle transformation  can only be sustained when you’re enjoying the process itself. So, I want you to try things that you just love to do outside. Play games or sports, make it a priority to have fun, and dare something worthy. Health benefits and consequences are distractions that take us away from the task at hand. Instead, focus on the journey, that is your new lifestyle.

If you don’t know where to start, just try taking your current fitness program outdoors. I hike, climb, swim, swing clubbells, practice Prasara Yoga, and explore bodyweight exercise outside almost year round.

To your health and success,

Fitness Professional

Article from Physical Living and address the problem of Nature-Deficit Disorder. Article can be found at: http://physicalliving.com/nature-deficit-disorder-the-top-10-reasons-to-go-outside/ 

LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

After many years of research, Edith Cobb published her influential book, "The Ecology of Imagination in Childhood".  She based much of her analysis on a collection of some three hundred volumes of autobiographical recollections of childhood by creative thinkers from diverse cultures and eras. She concluded that inventiveness and imagination of nearly all of the creative people she studied was rooted in early experiences in nature. 

Cobb wrote, "Creative thinkers return in memory to renew the power and impulse to create at its very source, a source which they describe as the experience of emerging  not only into the light of consciousness, but into a living sense of kinship with the outer world.  These experiences take place primarily in the middle years of childhood. Memories of awakening to the existence of some potential, aroused by early experiences of self and world, are scattered through the literature of scientific and aesthetic invention. Autobiographies repeatedly refer to the cause of this awakening as an acute sensory response to the natural world."

LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

"One might argue that a computer, with its near-infinite coding possibilities, is histories deepest box of loose parts. But binary code, made of two parts --X and O-- have its limits. Nature, which excites all the senses, remains the riches source of loose parts."

LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

"Children live through their senses. Sensory experiences link the child's exterior world with their interior, hidden, affective world. Since the natural world is the principle source of sensory stimulation, freedom to explore and play with the outdoor environment through the senses in their own space and time is essential for healthy development of an interior life. . . . This type of self-activated, autonomous interaction is what we call free play. Individual children test themselves by interacting with their environment, activating their potential and reconstructing human culture. The content of the environment is a critical factor in this process. A rich, open environment will continuously present alternative choices for creative engagement. A rigid, bland environment will limit healthy growth and development of the individual or group."  

- Robin Moore

LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

The Rise of Cultural Autism

In the most nature-deprived corners of the world we can see the rise of what might be called cultural autism. The symptoms? Tunneled senses, and feeling of isolation and containment. Experience, including physical risk, is narrowing to about the size of a cathode ray, tube or flat panel if you prefer. Atrophy of the senses was occurring long before we came to be bombarded with the latest generation of computers, high-definition TV and wireless phones.

LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

For years, James Sallis has been studying why some children and adults are more active then others. He is program director of the Active Living Research Program for the Robert Wood Research Foundation, a multi-year effort to discover how to design recreational facilities and whole communities so they stimulate people of all ages to be more active.

Based on previous studies, we can definitively say that the best predictor of preschool children's activity is simply being outdoors, says Sallis, "and that an indoor sedentary, childhood is linked to mental health problems."

The idea that natural landscapes, or at least gardens, can be therapeutic and restorative is, in fact, an ancient one that has filtered down through the ages. Over two-thousand years ago, Chinese Taoists created gardens and greenhouses they believed to be beneficial for health. By 1699, the book  English Gardener advised the reader to spend "spare time in the garden, either digging, setting out, or weeding; there is no better way to preserve your health.

LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

Richard Louv has a copy of a book named "Shelters, Shacks and Shanties" written by Daniel C. Beard in 1915. In his book Daniel C. Beard writes how he "epitomizes a time when a young person's experience of nature was inseparable from the romantic view of the American Frontier." But what really defined Beards' books, and the age they represented, is the unquestionable belief that being in nature was about doing something, about the experience -- and about not being a spectator.

"Most housing tracts, condos, and planned communities constructed in the past two to three decades are controlled by strict covenants that discourage or ban the kind of outdoor play many of us enjoyed as children."  

"The Scripps Ranch Community Association chased kids away from a little pond near the public library, where children had fished for bluegills since Scripps Ranch had been a working cattle spread many decades earlier. In response to the tightened regulations, families erected basketball hoops. Young people moved their skateboard ramps to the foot of their driveways. But the community association reminded the residence that such activity violated the covenants they had signed when they bought their houses. Down came the ramps and poles; and indoors went the kids. Game Boy and Sega became their imagination. Parents became alarmed. Their kids were getting fat."
 

LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

"Unlike television, nature can not steal your time; it amplifies it. Nature offers healing for a child living in a destructive family or neighborhood. It serves as a blank slate upon which a child draws and reinterprets the culture's fantasies. Nature inspires creativity in a child by demanding visualization and the full use of the senses."




"Many members of my generation grew into adulthood taking nature's gifts for granted; we assumed that generations to come would also receive these gifts. But something has changed. Now we see the emergence of what I have come to call nature-deficit disorder. This term is by no means a medical diagnosis, but it does offer a way to think about the problem and the possibilities - for children, and for the rest of us as well."




"I think often of a wonderfully honest comment made by Paul, a fourth-grader in San Diego: " I like to play indoors better, 'cause that's where all the electrical outlets are."

-Richard Louv

LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

"Within the space of a few decades, the way children understand and experience nature has changed radically. The polarity of the relationship has reversed. Today, kids are aware of the global threats to the environment - but their physical contact, their intimacy with nature, is fading."

"A kid today can likely tell you about the Amazon rain forest - but not the last time he or she explored the woods in solitude, or lay in a field listening to the wind and watching the clouds move."

"Yet, the very moment that the bond is breaking between the young and the natural world, a growing body of research links our mental, physical, and spiritual health directly to our association with nature - in positive ways. Several of these studies suggest that thoughtful exposure of youngsters to nature can even be a powerful form of therapy for attention-deficit disorders and other maladies. As one scientist puts it, we can now assume that just as children need good nutrition and adequate sleep, they may very well need contact with nature."