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Study: Nature Walks Help ADHD
In the past few years, doctors have reported kids with ADHD being overmedicated. So I thought it was interesting that a recent study by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found that taking a 20-minute walk in a natural setting worked better than medicine in helping ADHD kids focus.
In the study, researchers took ADHD-diagnosed children on 20-minute walks in urban and natural settings. They found that those who took the natural-themed walks showed increased concentration. The concentration was as good as, or higher than, levels seen in the children when on medication for ADHD. While many studies have linked time in the outdoors with increased well-being, this is one of the first studies to link natural settings to better concentration. It also showed that time outside could help reduce all ADHD symptoms, not just concentration. "Children who have regular exposure to green spaces have milder symptoms overall," said Fraces Kuo, who co-authored the study. "So that's hinting that there may be a persistent effect." Translation: take your overactive kids outside. It's good for them.
Duh. Exercise, in general, is the best way to quiet an overactive brain. They needed a study for this? Certainly spending time outdoors is better, but getting kids off their a**** in any environment would do wonders. The best thing a parent can do for their kids is pull them away from electronic babysitters every once in a while.
Nope. That's why you have a control condition: if exercise alone was the relevant factor, the kids who took the city walk would have seen exactly the same result.
Now, the problem with this study is that it does not elucidate a mechanism, or demonstrate that the effects of the nature walk are as enduring or as effective outside the lab setting (i.e. do the nature walk kids see improved grades to the same extent as medicated kids, etc.) but it does open the door to more extensive research.
(Raises a glass to reasonably well-designed, socially valid and relevant research)
Sounds like vindication for Thom Hartmann's ideas on ADD. He wrote a book explaining his theory that ADD kids are just those more intune to a physical style of learning instead of classroom and book learning and nbot a problem with the kids themselves.
There is a horse ranch in my area that approaches the problem of ADHD by putting the kids on horseback. Once again, it is an outdoor activity, but there's also something about the association with the animals and perhaps about the rhythm of horseback riding.
I wonder, did they also try to see if a nature walk would help a diabetic child control their blood sugar levels without insulin? Did they also try to see if a nature walk would help a visually impaired child see 20/20 without glasses? ADD and ADHD are the result of chemical imbalance in the brain. Children and adults with ADD or ADHD need to have those chemicals in balance, to level the playing field, allowing them to be "normal" when it comes to their ability to focus. ADHD is not a behavioral or discipline problem, and one of the biggest problems for these children is that some adults believe it is. "If they just TRY hard enough, they can focus." As a teacher, a parent of an ADD child, and an ADD sufferer myself, I always worry when anyone tries to minimize the actual physiological basis for the disorder. I'm glad to hear the results of a nature walk. I'll bet it helps ALL children focus. I'll bet it helps all people focus, regardless of age.
American Teacher,
I concur with your post 10/25/08.
I'm an adult that has coped with ADD all my life too.
Quick fixes of diet/ walking or special vitamins have no bases in rational thinking to problem solving this disorder of ADD or ADHD. Parents would do their children and perhaps themselves a favor by getting informed from reliable sources that have replicated valid research that has been done to help ADD/ADHD individuals cope. There is no easy fix! Enough with the half-baked ideas to make someone rich at the expense of those that struggle and need behavioural techniques to cope, supportive understanding and medication. Anyone that is not educating themselves with assessment based treatments and research that is valid and accepted by the scientific community at large is doing themselves a disservice.
Dr.Frances Kuo's grant for this study is from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, linked to Johnson & Johnson (Band-Aid people). I would like to know what if any interest does this company related Foundation have in this research and if they restrict the researcher in anyway. No disrespect to Dr.Kuo but who ever wrote this is doing her research a disservice and the public at large reading the article. There are no details about this research study done by Dr. Kuo. While I applaud work done to enhance life style and environment there is not enough detail in this aritcle to tell us anything about the research and how it was done, why it was done and how it led people to this unbelievable and not necessarily replicatable results for individuals with ADD.
Human physiology is a complex interactive function of electro-chemical impulses transmitted throughout the entire body. But this doesn't presume the 'body' is only physical and does not change by interaction with other outside sources; it does. Chemical balance can be created in many ways, not just with medicine. New research is showing that brain chemistry is not fixed, but fluid.
Are medications that remain untested over long periods of time and not actually created for children really the best, first option? I think that is the real question.
Being a shamanic practitioner, I believe that our connection with the living earth can help to create a significant shift in perception and is certainly worth looking into, rather than being dismissed because it doesn't come in tablet form.
I'm not claiming an easy fix, or that medication is not a necessity for some. I believe that the increased prevalence of ADHD and Autism beg the question of grounding and connection that may not be provided within the daily routine of daily living; not just for children, but for all of us.
Having lived with an ADHD brother, son, and daughter,and taught in schools where it has become a significant issue ( 50% of students on medication ! ), I would like to attest to the fact that the meds are an expensive, often detrimental, and unnecessary option to the more effective remedies that include not only lots of outdoor time but also dietary changes in favor of unprocessed foods low in sugars. The connection with the natural world is being proven a far more positive and lifelong 'treatment' with benefits far beyond just the ADHD problem.
I'm not sure what are your objections to this study. What has the tenuous J&J link to Robert Wood Johnson foundation to do with the alleged "lack of details"?
I don't quite follow your line of argument here.
Look at all the money we would save in not buying meds if we would just give our kids 20 minute nature walks. We walk the dog, so bring along the kid as well, I do.
Interesting findings
In some respects this study does not particularly surprise me, ADH kids have more energy, are more physical, and need more stimulation. At least now there is an easy solution to treating this condition.Costa Blanca repossessions
Natural remedies
Parents should be using natural remedies such as taking their kids out for long walks and giving them herbal teas rather than running to the Doctor at the first sign of a problem... medication is only going to make the problem worse in the long run.
Kahuki
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