Being Outdoors Research Paper

Parents have become more afraid of car accidents, crime, creepers and diseases which have all become over-exaggerated through the media (“Why Kids Need Nature”). The lack of parental support for children to get eye level with nature and explore its’ beauty in backyards and surrounding environments is detrimental to children’s views on nature. Simple outdoor activities and time to play outside aren’t put on the daily to do list for children because the of the demanding schedule made for them (Louv, “Children's Isolation from the Natural World Is a Threat to Their Health”). Robert Louv did a ten-year study with many families to observe the amount of time children spend interacting with nature. He says in one of his articles, “Some [parents] feel [playing outside] wastes precious time. They're afraid that if they don't get the kids in Suzuki violin lessons they won't get into Harvard," The importance of success that parents place on their children in school, extracurricular activities and lessons can detrimentally suffocate the child’s schedule and prohibit them from being able to learn the best they can. The negative effect that NDD has on a child’s learning about life is significant (“Kids Need to Offset ‘screen time’ with ‘nature time’” A1). To establish basic concepts of life and learning, children need experience with the

Spending time outdoors can be quite beneficial. For starters, going outside can reduce stress by allowing you to temporarily escape from your problems. Listening to the chirping of birds, the feeling of a cool breeze touching your cheeks and neck, and some fresh air can help clear out your mind. Going on road trips aren’t so bad either. Exploring new places can turn out to be exciting and a great learning experience.

While reading different essays addressing the topic of nature, I came to the conclusion that they all shared the idea that being outside can make an impact in everyone no matter if you believe you only belong in a city or forest because it can bring you serenity and show you all the amazing things you wouldn't be able to see anywhere else. In Wendell Berry’s essay “An Entrance to the Woods,” he states that people can use the quiet of the woods to forget all their problems. Berry wrote “One is that, though I am here in body, my mind and my nerves too are not yet altogether here. We seem to grant to our high-speed roads and our airlines the rather thoughtless assumption that people can change places as rapidly as their bodies can be transported.” Nature has a way to transport ones mind and spirit elsewhere while the body is left behind on earth as we travel deep into thought. Adding on to that idea, the essay “A City Person Encountering Nature” by Maxine Hong Kingston the author explains that nature is a giver of peace and patience with its slow cycles that may frustrate people, but help keep a sane mind. Society is fast paced, making everyone feel that they need to keep the same pace in order to get things done, but we don't realize that although our bodies are moving and pushing, our minds are exhausted and cannot keep up with the fast pace. Kingston wrote “Preferring the city myself, I can better discern natural phenomena when books point them out; I also need to verify

My central idea for this topic is for my audience to be aware that spending time outdoors is important for the body and mind and helps you relieve stress more so than having not to spend time outdoors. Spending more time outdoors can be done in many ways and it is healthy for your body.

Nature in its tranquility provides a calming sensation away from the buzzing city life. The ability

The article’s author, Florence Williams, is participating in University of Utah’s cognitive psychologist, David Strayer current research project. Strayer specializes in attention, and is in a unique position to understand what modern life is doing to us. He believes the antidote to the problem is nature. Strayer’s hypothesis is that being in nature allows the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s command center, to dial down and rest, similarly to an overused muscle in the body. The research is what he calls, the three-day effect. Our brains are easily fatigued, when we slow down, stop the busywork, and take in beautiful natural surroundings; not only do we feel restored, but our mental performance

Childhood was drastically changed decade to decade; the change of outdoor play from tree houses and walking by the swamp to kids sitting inside on electronics. The author discusses the mental and physical effect of “nature deficit disorder” with children’s lack of outdoor time, which is not a medical term by any means, but Louv supports the theory. In the past few decades we have changed through three frontiers extremely fast: utilitarian to romantic and now an intellectualized view on nature. Louv briefly talks about a “forth frontier,” where he does seem very optimistic view of the future in children’s intimacy with nature. The connection with nature across all of America has weakened with time but there are many benefits of this connection.

Research has proven that physical activity improves cognitive function and can also improve brain function throughout a lifespan. Moreover, staying physically active has so many benefits as well. For example, doing exercise and fitness activities help build cells and natural pathways to help reduce changes in memory loss or dementia. Also, it has so many health benefits including long-term improvements to the cognitive function as the young adult reaching mid

Alternative medicine is full of plenty of unconventional means to improve one’s health. One of many outlandish techniques is referred to as “Shinrin-yoku”, “forest therapy”, or “forest bathing”. To explain it in the most basic way, this procedure involves taking a walk in the woods… and that’s pretty much it. While it may seem questionable as to what benefits this could give a person beyond cardiac exercise, however the healing process of forest bathing is built upon very primal component in human nature: The innate desire to be close to nature. “When given a choice of what environment they want to surround their home or workplace, people commonly prefer something that combines three features: on a height looking down, surrounded by parkland

The outdoors are a way to explore a vividly beautiful world and to do so much more. It’s not just about the trees and the flowers, but it’s about exploring and learning new material every day about nature and wildlife. The outdoors is a creative place to learn, have some fun, provides health benefits, and activities, such as hiking.

According to Haile, “a forest-therapy base must meet certain criteria to be recognized by the government, including a scientific evaluation of its healing ability” (4). Since it has to be scientifically evaluated, that validates not only its effectiveness, but its ability to provide health benefits to practitioners. Anything that is scientifically evaluated can either be illustrated by physical or mental changes, and according to Haile, “the documented benefits to one’s health thus far include lowered blood pressure, blood glucose levels, and stress hormones” (2). There has been evidence collected to prove nature’s ability to heal and promote physical health. In an experiment conducted with college students, the presence of green spaces alone was able to provide significant health benefits. According to Reynolds, “when the students saw green spaces after the math stressor, their parasympathetic nervous system kicked in, lowering heart rates…” (2). This directly emphasizes the ability of nature to positively impact one’s health. In this case, the presence of green space was able to lower rapid heart rates that typically stem from stress and anxiety. These findings can be beneficial to adults in the workplace and students in school who are constantly

In the article “What’s Better: Indoor or Outdoor Play? By Darcia Narvaez states that indoor growth is harmful to children’s growth and that “Outdoors, a child learns on multiple levels with each new adventure (Qtd Narvaez).” She states that children doing outdoor activities cause their brain to develop at a faster rate. This causes them to become better learners and do better in school. “Not only are there mental advantages to playing outside, there are even more physical advantages.” They will be more active and healthy. The article states that “Researchers have found a disorder called “Nature Deficit Disorder”. Basically, this means that not playing outdoors and with nature (e.g. hiking or camping) is really detrimental for kids.” The nature deficit disorder is defined In Buzzword it defines it as “the tendency for children to spend less time outdoors than they did in previous generations, and the way this influences them as they grow up.” It gives an example of a question asking if we could identify a certain tree, a butterfly, or a toad. If a person could then they were likely to have grown up with technology and it states that “If the answer is no, then maybe you're young enough to count among a generation now alleged to be suffering from nature-deficit disorder.” It refers to the little time children are spending outdoors. Children today do not play outside like their parents did instead they spend much of their time indoors. Where older people might have spent time in the woods, or fishing. Kids today are more likely to want to watch television on play on the computer. People might suggest that nature deficit disorder is more like an illness, with symptoms like depression, and ADHD- attention deficit hyper activity disorder. This disorder came from an author named Richard Louv who wrote a book in 2005 called last child in the woods – saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. This

“Nature-deficit disorder describes the human cost of alienation from nature” (34 Lost Child in the Woods). Nature allows us to become our best self inward and outward letting people show their imagination as children and find one's self in nature. In “The New Relationship between Nature” Last Child in the Woods, “Nature” from Ralph Emerson and Walden or life in the Woods, Henry Thoreau.

For several years, hiking has also been used as a form of “nature therapy,” or ecotherapy. Ecotherapy is based on the

As a student in the class, Sustainability and Public Health, I have learned to appreciate the benefits nature has to offer and that everything must be in balance in order to maintain a sustainable society. In order to connect with and experience nature on a different level our class did a walking mediation around the bio pond. I have always believed from the time of birth, almost immediately you become aware of the necessary connection with the outside world by exploring all parts of your new surroundings. However, as years passed I began to feel this connection weaken and it wasn’t until after the walking meditation when I realized how much nature has a positive impact on my overall well-being.