How much time have you spent outdoors today? How many minutes have you been in a green space or a blue space?
If you knew that even three to four minutes outside can start to produce positive physiological changes, would it make you more likely to down tools and pop outside?
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Kids vs adults
Everyone knows that children are spending less time outdoors than ever before, but the statistics are even grimmer than you might think. Dr Jenny Brockis is a medical practitioner, former GP, and author who currently works as a lifestyle medicine physician and workplace health and wellbeing consultant.
“In the US, the average American child aged between 6 and 17 spends seven minutes a day in outside unstructured play, and between 5-8 hours inside on a screen. This is a 50% decline over twenty years,” says Brockis. “And the statistics are similar for Australia.”
The reasons for this are varied: busy school schedules, extracurricular studies, and less free time overall combined with increased parental anxiety about dangers—whether real or imagined—impacting their decisions to allow children to play outside.
“Some parents aren’t sure how to interact with their children outside other than to supervise their activities on outside play equipment, or they don’t have the time themselves to supervise their children and are worried about letting them play without an adult being present,” explains Brockis.
As a result, everyone, not just children, is spending more time indoors. “We’re not setting a good example to our kids. It’s estimated that adults spend an average of 90% of the day indoors with a few more per cent spent in our vehicles!”
The nature deficit
While much has been written about the increasing toll of inactivity and too much screen time, another aspect of spending too much time indoors is a nature deficit.
“Our modern way of living has contributed to what is known as a nature deficit,” explains Brockis. “Today half of the world’s population live in cities, forecast to increase to 68% by 2050. As urbanites with busy lives and long hours spent at work, we have fewer opportunities that previously abounded, for us to spend time outside. Because we don’t see or interact with nature as much as we used to, we forget how good we feel when outside, how fresh air and sunshine put us in a better mood, clear our head and lower our stress.”
But spending time outdoors is much more than simply making us ‘feel good’. Research shows that accumulating a nature deficit is actually doing us harm. It turns out that time in nature is critical to our health and wellbeing.
“Ideally, we need 15-20 minutes outside to optimise the full effect of being outside to calm the nervous system, lower blood pressure, reduce stress and symptoms of anxiety and depression, and to boost our overall mental wellbeing,” Brockis explains.
“However, it has been shown that even 3-4 minutes outside starts to produce the same physiological and psychological effects. Focus and attention improve, cognition improves (better problem-solving and greater insight), and we feel calmer, more relaxed, and better able to cope with our various stresses and worries.”
Mental health statistics for our young people show that illness is at an all-time high. One in four young Australians aged between 15-19 are at risk of serious mental illness and the prevalence of mental illness in our younger generations is continuing to rise.
We need to ensure that every child spends at least 60 minutes a day outside to keep them healthy.
How can schools help?
Brockis acknowledges that not every school has ready access to nature, but encouraging children to spend time outside, preferably in a green space, during recess or their lunch break is a good start.
She adds that teaching the children about nature – going on nature treasure hunts and learning about the plants and animals –helps to develop their curiosity and makes learning fun.
“Getting the children outside to run, jump, and climb is good for their physical fitness and to develop spatial awareness. They build better coordination skills, improved muscle strength and are more resilient. Outdoor play stimulates imagination and creativity,” Brockis says.
“Creating a nature habit will help the children retain an interest in their environment and be at a lower risk of developing a psychiatric disorder, mood disorder, schizophrenia or substance abuse in later life.” Jenny Brockis.
A nature habit, Brockis says, is something all schools can work towards, and “can be scheduled regularly to make outside activity and learning a normal part of the school day.”
Related article: What the pandemic taught us about outdoor learning
Are outdoor classrooms the answer?
Where practical, outdoor classrooms are a good option, but much depends on the layout and location (and budget) of the school.
“Forest schools are very popular in Scandinavian countries where the children spend time outside (whatever the weather!) each day, exploring, interacting and learning about their environment. This has been shown to provide the benefit of enhanced learning (even after returning indoors), greater creativity, greater happiness, better attention, better social interaction with their peers and better behaviour overall,” she explains.
Therefore, while having a dedicated outdoor classroom is ideal, the permanent space on the school grounds is not as important as the permanent space in the school timetable.
Students are not the only ones who will benefit from time spent outdoors. “Time in nature has a protective effect, guarding us against the development of chronic disease associated with exposure to high levels of stress, boosting the immune system and keeping us in a better state of mind,” says Brockis. “Increasing the amount of time spent outside in a green or blue space is a low risk, free way to enhance greater happiness and wellbeing at every age.”
Related articles:
Taking learning beyond the classroom
Learning in the great outdoors
