I recently wrote a post at Living Montessori Now about helping kids avoid nature-deficit disorder through Montessori-inspired outdoor activities. But it isn’t just kids who can have nature-deficit disorder.
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Richard Louv first coined the term “nature-deficit disorder” in the 2005 book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder. In a more recent article, “Get Your Mind Dirty” at Outside Online, Louv says that adults as well as children are suffering from lack of time in nature. He writes:
“In the book, I introduced the term nature-deficit disorder—not as a medical diagnosis but as a way to describe the growing gap between children and nature. By its broadest interpretation, nature-deficit disorder is an atrophied awareness, a diminished ability to find meaning in the life that surrounds us. When we think of the nature deficit, we usually think of kids spending too much time indoors plugged into an outlet or computer screen. But after the book’s publication, I heard adults speak with heartfelt emotion, even anger, about their own sense of loss.”
In the spring especially, I feel a greater need to spend time outdoors. “Spring fever” hits me each year and continues throughout the warm months. And I need to get out of the house some even the middle of winter. I think that most adults as well as kids feel better, more whole, by spending time outdoors.
“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” John Burroughs
Richard Louv talks about some interesting benefits of spending time in nature:
“While the study of the relationship between mental acuity, creativity, and time spent outdoors is still a frontier for science, new data suggests that exposure to the living world can even enhance intelligence. At least two factors are involved: first, our senses and sensibilities can be improved by spending time in nature; second, the natural environment seems to stimulate our ability to pay attention, think clearly, and be more creative.”
I’ve been focusing on getting outdoors more in general lately. And I want to take my writing outdoors, too. I plan to take my laptop outdoors in the warm weather rather than spending the day sitting at my desk, even though my computer is right by a window.
What better plan for Earth Day or any day than to get outdoors and enjoy the earth? How do you plan to spend more time outdoors?
Photo Credit: Photo at the top of this post by Vinoth Chandar at Flickr Creative Commons (License).
Linked with Thought Provoking Thursday.
I completely agree. I try to run outside most days so even if I’m stuck at my desk, I had my fix in the morning. I do notice my son’s teachers aren’t too adventurous when the weather is freezing or below and don’t take the kids out to recess. I with they would. We live in Virginia so how cold can it get?
Thanks for your comment, Terri! It’s great that you run outside … such a healthy habit and great way to stay in touch with nature.
I think teachers in South Dakota are probably better at taking kids outdoors than it sounds like they are in Virginia! And the preschools that are completely outdoors year round in Scandinavian countries are amazing … and hard to imagine! They definitely show that kids in most of the U.S. could get outdoors everyday with only good results. 🙂
Deb recently posted..Enjoy Being a Good-Enough Mother!
This is so wonderfully written. I’m all pumped up for doing something good for the environment now.
Thanks for sharing.
-Sid
Thanks, Sid! I hope you’re enjoying Earth Day every day! 🙂
Deb recently posted..Enjoy Being a Good-Enough Mother!
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I spend as much time as I can in my garden. The latest thinking is that working with the soil boosts your immune system and lifts depression. Well, any gardener will know that already. We don’t need a study to know that being outside is the best mood elevator on earth.