In the article “Physiological Effects of Nature Therapy: A Review of the Research in Japan,” authors Chorong Song, Harumi Ikei and Yoshifumi Miyazaki note that “Humans have evolved into what they are today after the passage of six to seven million years. If we define the beginning of urbanization as the rise of the industrial revolution, less than 0.01 per cent of our species’ history has been spent in modern surroundings.”
Their statement helps us understand the well-established connection between our mental and physical health and nature. If we pause a moment to think about the implication of this insight, we realize that the evolution of human beings has occurred mostly outside in the natural world. It would suggest that our genetic makeup has evolved hand in hand with the natural world. Since our modern surroundings are, for the majority of people, found in urban settings, our connection to the natural world has been more limited and, in some cases, severed.
“The gap between natural settings, to which our physiological functions are best adapted, and the highly urbanized and artificial environment that we inhabit is a contributing cause of the ‘stress state’ in modern people,” they write.
Alleviating the stress of living inside all the time can be as simple as taking a walk outside or visiting a park. Scientists around the world have studied the effect of nature on our physiological and mental well-being. In 2016, the BBC reported on one experiment where 18,500 people engaged with nature once a day for one month. The BBC reported that the study found that for the participants, there “was a scientifically significant increase in people’s health, happiness, connection to nature and active nature behaviours, such as feeding the birds and planting flowers for bees — not just throughout the challenge, but sustained for months after the challenge had been completed.” In other words, the effect of nature was not short-lived; it had an enduring effect.
For children during COVID-19, the need to be outdoors is clear. In 2020, the CBC wrote about a national study that found “prior to the pandemic, about 15 per cent of kids met Canada's 24-hour guidelines for physical activity, sedentary time and sleep” but that “movement levels had plunged as low as three per cent during the early days of the restrictions.”
On its website for parents and children, the American Academy of Pediatrics notes the benefits of getting outside regularly. The benefits include children being physically healthier because they play harder outside than inside; playing outside encourages curiosity, creativity and improved learning outcomes; children who spend time in natural settings tend to have less anger and aggression and better impulse control; and finally, mental health improves when children have spent time in nature.
Our challenge isn’t so much to teach children about the natural world, but to find ways to sustain the instinctive connections they already carry.
Terry Krautwurst
References
Canadian Broadcasting Company. 2020. “COVID-19 takes toll on physical health of young Canadians, scientists, school board find.” CBC website. https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/phys-ed-covid-1.5767912 (accessed February 4, 2021).
Coles, J. 2016. “How Nature is Good for Our Health and Happiness.” BBC website. http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160420-how-nature-is-good-for-our-heal… (accessed February 4, 2021).
Glassy, D., and P. Tandon. 2020. “Getting Children and Teens Outside While Physical Distancing for COVID-19.” American Academy of Pediatrics website. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/COVID-… (accessed February 5, 2021).
Song, C., H. Ikei and Y. Miyazaki. 2016. “Physiological Effects of Nature Therapy: A Review of the Research in Japan.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 13, no. 8 (Aug.): 1–17. doi:10.3390/ijerph13080781