Human brains and bodies are calibrated for natural environments. Yet citizens of modern societies have largely divorced themselves from nature. Children are spending less and less time outdoors, a problem that seems to be growing more severe with each passing year.

The average American now spends more than 90% of his or her life indoors, and most of the other 10% is spent in transition navigating urban environments, not natural settings. “It’s the first time in human history that we are virtually divorcing ourselves from the natural world,” says Richard Louv, author of The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder. “We can’t expect to make such a sudden, drastic turn in our everyday lives without repercussions.” (Knox, 2013) In every variable you can measure, natural environments support mental health, while unnatural urban environments increase the likelihood of mental health problems:

• Taking a walk through the forest lowers blood pressure, increases positive feelings, and boosts the immune system. (Knox, 2013)
• The presence of trees has been linked to lower levels of asthma, stress, crime, and domestic violence. (Wapner, 2008)
• Those who spend more time outdoors have larger volumes of gray matter in their right prefrontal cortex, an area important for regulating emotion and combatting depression. (Readers Digest, March/April 2022, p. 50)
• Time spent in nature improves body image. (Schreiber, 2011)
• Urban noise pollution causes high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attacks, stress and insomnia, and takes years off a person’s lifespan. (McBride 2020)
• School children with a “green wall” or a window allowing plenty of natural light that overlooks green settings or who otherwise spend more time exposed to nature have fewer behavioral problems, improved discipline, fewer symptoms of ADHD, and they learn better and score higher on measures of intelligence and cognitive functioning. (Haupt, 2022; Wapner, 2008; Miranda, 2021)
• Hospital patients with either plants in their room or windows overlooking a green area experience less pain, lower blood pressure, less fatigue, less anxiety, and they recover faster than patients lacking these natural cues. (David, 2023; Haupt, 2022); (Barone, 2009)
• A 1991 study by Texas A & M psychologists found that people who viewed scenes of water or trees returned to a positive mood much quicker after a stressful event than those who viewed urban scenes. (Roberts, 2011)
• A 2011 study of students in an Outward Bound course found a 40% boost in frontal lobe brain activity (which is important for regulating emotions and combatting negative thoughts) after 4 days spent in the back country. (ibid)
• Scenes of nature have been found to decrease stress, diminish anger and reduce anxiety. (Hutchinson, 2009)

Invite kids’ friends along and make it a multi-family affair. “When it’s just one family, the kids stick close to their parents and whine and complain,” says Richard Louv, founder of the Children & Nature Network. “But the minute several families get together, the kids are off on their own playing hide and seek independent of the parents.” (Szabo, 4-14-2011)

Decreasing children’s nature deficit to cure their mental health problems

Taking a trip to the forest won’t instantly erase your child’s pre-existing mental health struggles. But steady, consistent exposure to nature can provide dramatic improvements. Beneficial effects start to show up with 2 hours of weekly exposure, and the more time kids spend in nature, the more powerful the effects.

• Do your best to schedule at least one nature outing each week, whether this be a family hike, a trip to the lake, a picnic, or anything else that gets you outdoors. Invite kids’ friends along and make it a multi-family affair. “When it’s just one family, the kids stick close to their parents and whine and complain,” says Richard Louv, founder of the Children & Nature Network. “But the minute several families get together, the kids are off on their own playing hide and seek independent of the parents.” (Szabo, 4-14-2011)
• Do more everyday things outdoors: Take your meals outside from time to time, have kids study outside, conduct family meetings outdoors, and look for games to play outside.
• Make their experiences as sensory rich as possible: Let kids take off their shoes and walk through a creek, or roll down a grass hill, or lay down in the grass and sunbathe. Stop to sniff the leaves, bark, or vegetation: scientists are discovering there are certain compounds in natural settings that provide a beneficial effect on both physical and mental health when inhaled.
• Bring in some indoor plants. They’re no substitute for time spent in wilderness, but they can expose your children to greenery while scrubbing your house of indoor air pollution.