Nature, An ADHD Natural Treatment;
Study cites the great outdoors as a natural treatment for ADHD and
ADD.
My mother’s warning; “You are going to rot your brain out...”
still rings through my mind whenever I spend too much time in
front of the television set.
I grew up in a time when mothers shooed their children out - rain,
snow or shine - to get a breath of fresh air. Our television set
got only four or five channels and those channels signed off at
midnight. It would be years before cable television, satellite
dish, VCRs and Nintendo would debut. Lazy summer days were spent
riding bicycles for hours because there wasn’t much of anything
better to do.
This was also a few decades before Ritalin and Attention Deficit
would become commonplace terms.
I have long believed that inactive hours
spent indoors has contributed to the increased incidence of
Attention Deficit Disorder. A recent study, published in the
September 2004 issue of the “American Journal of Public Health,”
validates that believe.
University of Illinois researchers studied nature as an ADHD
natural treatment. This study showed that children with ADHD
benefit from time outdoors enjoying nature with a significant
reduction of ADHD symptoms.
Researchers of this nationwide recruited the parents of 322 boys
and 84 girls, all diagnosed with ADHD, through ads in major
newspapers and the Internet. Participants, ages 5 to18, spent time
in a variety of settings which varied from big cities to rural
settings. Some activities were conducted indoors, others in
outdoor places without much greenery such as parking lots and
downtown areas and other activities were in "green" areas such as
a tree-lined street, back yards or parks. The parents were
interviewed and asked to report how their children performed after
participating in a wide range of activities.
The researchers found that symptoms were reduced most in green
outdoor settings, even when the same activities were compared
across different settings. Researchers believe that simply
incorporating nature into a child’s day could be widely effective
in reducing ADHD symptoms.
Based on the results of this ADHD natural treatment study,
researchers recommend that children with ADHD spend quality
after-school hours and weekend time outdoors enjoying nature.
''The advantage for green outdoor activities was observed among
children living in different regions of the United States and
among children living in a range of settings, from rural to large
city environments,'' wrote co-authors Frances E. Kuo and Andrea
Faber Taylor. ''Overall, our findings indicate that exposure to
ordinary natural settings in the course of common after-school and
weekend activities may be widely effective in reducing attention
deficit symptoms in children.''
The authors suggested that daily doses of ''green time'' might
supplement medications and behavioral approaches to ADHD if
clinical trials and additional research confirm the value of
nature as a natural treatment for ADHD.
In each comparison (there were 56 in all), green outdoor
activities received more positive ratings over the activities
taking place in other settings. In 54 of the 56, the difference
was significant, signaling that the findings were consistent.
Researchers said that exposing ADHD children to nature is an
affordable, healthy method of controlling symptoms. Researchers
also suggested that daily doses of "green time" can supplement
medications and other traditional treatments of ADHD.
Of the ADHD medications, Kuo said; ''They often have serious side
effects. Who wants to give their growing child a drug that kills
their appetite day after day and, night after night, makes it hard
for them to get a decent night's rest? Not to mention the stigma
and expense of medication.''
Simply using nature, Kuo said, ''may offer a way to help manage
ADHD symptoms that is readily available, doesn't have any stigma
associated with it, doesn't cost anything, and doesn't have any
side effects -- except maybe splinters!''
ADHD natural “green” treatment has endless possibilities, many of
which might closely resemble childhoods from years long past. For
children's health and fitness needs, visit
Fitness
and Kids.
Here are just a few ideas for increasing "green time":
_ Play in a green yard or ball field at recess and after
school.
_ Take after-dinner walks.
_ Make a scarecrow.
_ Doing class work or homework outside or at a window with a
relatively green view.
_ Build a birdhouse.
_ Grow an outdoor garden.
_ Bike, ski, sled, inline skate...
_ Visit a nature center.
_ Choose a greener route for the walk to school.
_ Participate in local nature clean-ups.
_ Take up bird watching.
_ Star gaze.
Related Articles:
The
April 2004 issue of "Pediatrics" outlined the results of a study
that made a correlation between
excess television watching and the increased risk of ADHD. A
press release by
Children’s Hospital provides a brief overview of the ADHD
television connection. A
Seattle Times
article provides a more in-depth view of this study.
Also of interest is a study that shows
that exercise improves
focus and concentration. So...instead of watching television,
take a brisk walk instead. Your brain will thank you.
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