This was a glorious weekend in Phoenix! On Saturday I hiked in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve with my friend Mary. About midway through, we stopped and just sat down right where we were, fairly high up on one of the un-named mountains. It wasn’t an officially designated ‘scenic view’, but what a view it was! Here we were in Phoenix, but not really. The landscape before us stretched over a broad valley of GREEN.  Winter season’s rainfall resulted in a carpet of tiny wildflowers and thick underbrush in the typically brownish desert. It looked like meadows of green spreading forth below us and up the other side of adjacent mountains.
With the clocks in other states ‘springing forward’ on Sunday, I took notice of how Spring in Arizona is different from the rest of the country. Aside from the silly fact that we never change our clocks here (Hawaii, Alaska, Arizona, Native American sovereignties, and parts of Indiana all don’t try to fool Mother Nature), our state of GREEN is like no other. One thought led to another, until I arrived at today’s blog about the Connection between ADD and Green Play Settings.
It’s probably not big news for most people to acknowledge the great feeling we have when we spend outdoors time in natural settings. Richard Louv, 2008 recipient of the Audobon Medal, coined the phrase “nature-deficit disorder” in his book Last Child in the Woods. Louv’s inspiring work demonstrates that children need nature as much as nature needs children.
But, did you know that research points to the impact that GREEN has on our brains? It’s more that being out in the sunshine, appreciating the fresh air, or getting exercise, although all of those things are fabulous antidotes for whatever ails you. It’s the actual access to GREEN that provides improvement in attention.
 
Dr. Frances Kuo, Ph.D. and colleagues at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Landscape and Human Health Laboratory conducted a study involving approximately 100 families throughout the mid-west. The participants were ages 7-12 with a ratio of 3:1 boys to girls, which reflects the typical gender distribution of ADD.   Additional research was conducted with another group of almost 500 families with children ages 5-18. These research studies focused (pun intended!) on inattentive ADD rather than the hyperactive type. There are some findings that point to a similar positive effect of GREEN with hyperactive type ADD kids, but further testing is needed.
When asked by ADDitude magazine frequent contributor Carl Sherman, Ph.D. if perhaps it’s the types of activities typically done outdoors that promotes the attentional functioning benefits, Dr. Kuo responded,”I don’t think so. We compared the same activities in all three settings — for instance, you can play basketball indoors, in an asphalt schoolyard, or in a park — and there was a clear advantage to the most natural environment.”    Maybe our parents were right afterall when they told us to, “Just go out and play!”              Â
Both children and adults can suffer from what may be called “attention fatigue”, a condition that Dr. Kuo says results from the neurotransmitters in the brain’s prefrontal cortex getting depleted by struggling too much to concentrate without a break. She likens ADD to a chronic state of attention fatigue.
The research by Dr. Kuo and her colleagues extend Attention Restoration Theory which earlier suggested that nature supports directed attention functioning. Parents of the current study participants reported that their children functioned better both during ‘green’ activity and for some period of time afterward. (Hmmm, go out and play BEFORE doing homework?!) Significantly, the greatest amounts of greenery led to the biggest improvements.
It was concluded that ADD children who are able to ‘restore’ (replenish) their attention prior to engaging in demanding academic tasks might “maximize their attentional capacity by spending time in green settings…(they) might reduce the overall severity of their symptoms by spending time in green settings on a daily basis.”                                                original scientific article
These findings have implications not only for children with ADD but also their classmates. All children could benefit from spending time in green settings. Imagine that recess could be valued not merely as a release for physical energy, but also an opportunity to replenish students’ reservoir of attention. Imagine classrooms with windows overlooking green settings. Yes, I know that we have NO windows in our schools here in Phoenix (don’t get me started!).
Maybe you think this sounds too simple or contrived. Regardless, could it hurt to try?  The researchers do not claim that GREEN is a cure-all. Rather, they have demonstrated that exposure to GREEN settings on a regular basis can have a marked impact which improves the quality of life for children and families with ADD.
See ya’ in the park!
~Debbie
p.s. Thanks Kristen for the great photos.