Getting Back To Nature Helps Brain Fitness By Improving Mental Concentration
Feeling distracted? Having a hard time getting focused on something even though you know it needs to be done right away? According to researchers, you should get up, go outdoors, and take a pleasant walk with Mother Nature!
Many people like to take a quick walk outside to clear their head, but now a University of Illinois scientific study reveals that taking a twenty minute stroll in a wooded park with trees and grass can have a significant effect on wandering attention. Behavioral Specialists Frances Kuo and Andrea Taylor report in the Journal of Attention Disorders that a leisurely stroll through a peaceful park is more effective at reducing inattention and hyperactivity than the same amount of time spent walking through a populated city environment with buildings and traffic. The study included more than four hundred and fifty children nationwide, and researchers are confident that the results have significant applications in future treatment options for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
“Some of the previous survey research suggests a relationship between children who regularly play in green spaces and how severe their symptoms are. Children who have regular exposure to green spaces have milder symptoms overall. So that’s hinting that there may be a persistent effect,” said Kuo. The authors of the study also indicate that there are some hints that consistent exposure to nature may have long lasting effects.
Taylor suggests that although the study highlights benefits to children who have been diagnosed with ADHD, the results make it obvious that the brain fitness possibilities are not restricted to that. “We’re all on a continuum of attention so this study has implications for all of us,” said Taylor. “ADHD is just at the far end of attention functioning, but there’re plenty of us who fall somewhere close to that end of the continuum, and we all experience times when we’re mentally fatigued – times when we’re less able to focus and do tasks and get easily distracted. The evidence suggests that natural settings can benefit everyone, even children (and adults) who have not been diagnosed with ADHD.”
These findings indicate that those concerned with maintaining or improving brain fitness should incorporate nature walks into their brain fitness schedule.
Brain Fitness
