Nature deficit disorder is new social term for negative effect of kids distanced from nature
There is a relatively new term floating about these days: nature deficit disorder.“Richard Louv wrote a great book called Last Child in the Woods, where he talks about Nature Deficit Disorder,” explained Amanda Comstock, outdoor education assistant at Camp Buckeye. “In this society, we spend a lot of time and money dealing with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). What Louv noticed is that an increase in the rates of ADHD happened to correspond to a decrease in the amount of time children spend outside. He pointed out that children need time to have ‘undirected attention,’ at their own pace. That means time to focus on something that they don’t control, like watching birds or fish, clouds or the leaves rustling. While video games keep children’s attention, because they are always in control, their brains don’t get the decompression time they need, and can sometimes become agitated and stressed.”
Comstock, an avid supporter of the need for children to experience nature, stated that research backs up the nature deficit disorder theory.
“Louv links other newly common childhood ailments to a lack of time in the out-of-doors, such as obesity and depression. The body needs time outside and movement as part of its daily regiment. I recently read an article that talked about how there are enzymes in soil that, when they come in contact with skin, release serotonin in your brain. That means playing in the dirt literally makes you happy. It’s a chemical/biological reaction.”
Marsha Zoller, director of the Norma Johnson Conservation Center, is in agreement with Comstock. Zoller works with school groups as well as with individual families.
“I have heard that by the time a child is five years old, they have watched over 500 hours of TV. That is more hours than it takes to get a college degree. If you put that in perspective, less and less kids are outside. So much goes on outdoors that is being missed,” stated Zoller emphatically. “You don’t have to go to a nature center, but you do have to go outdoors. Get off the pavement, get in the grass, and get in the forest,” she added.
“Nature is so beneficial for kids because it is an all-sensory experience. Because all of their senses are engaged, they feel their experience -- their lessons are firsthand,” said Comstock. “I have seen time and again children come to our camp with wonder and amazement for the life teeming around them. Children that many adults might think are rude, unruly, and obnoxious in the classroom blossom when they are able to take the learning outside. They engage with every moment, and ask curious questions about everything happening around them. They see firsthand how they can impact their environment, and I see how the environment impacts them.”
“There’s so much I learn everyday, just by stepping outdoors--finding something that attracts me to nature,” Zoller exclaimed. “A lot of schools go to fifth and sixth-grade camp. That is very important. If they’re not getting into the outdoors at home, at least they are getting it through this program.”
Louv writes in Last Child in the Woods, “nature deficit describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illness. We’re raising the very first generation of Americans to grow up disconnected with nature…this broken relationship is making kids overweight, depressed, and distracted.”
Zoller encourages parents to re-think the way they are raising their children to stay indoors, glued to video games, computers, MP3 players, and other technology.
“Parents are doing their kids a disservice by not taking them into the outdoor world,” she explained. “Kids have a nature deficit.”
Information for parents on creative ways to reverse the deficit can be found online at www.greenhour.org.