Why should you encourage your kid to play outdoors?
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw.
According to the World Health Organization, children should get at least 60 minutes of exercise daily. Sadly though, the children of our generation are leading dangerously sedentary lives. They are not getting enough sleep and most of their time is spent watching TV or you can find them glued to laptops, iPads, tablets and smart phones.
Research suggests that today’s kids are spending almost 7 hours or so daily in front of screens. This is an alarming trend; one that is promoting all sorts of avoidable health problems in our kids.
Sedentary lifestyle makes kids prone to developing obesity, anxiety, behavior changes and poor brain functions. On the other hand, physical activity lowers risk of obesity and other factors that can cause heart problems and type 2 diabetes later in life. Being active is also good for healthy brain development. Children who regularly play outside are likely to be more engaged and focused than kids who spend most of their time indoors. In addition, there is resounding evidence that free play promotes better social skills and helps kids to learn better.
Let’s look at some obvious and some ‘not so obvious’ benefits of playing outdoors.
Physical health benefits
1. Vitamin D synthesis
Your body makes vitamin D when your skin is exposed to natural sunlight. Your growing child needs the sunshine vitamin to absorb calcium and other minerals required to make strong bones and muscles. Vitamin D offers many other important health benefits too:
- Regulates immunity and reduces the risk of allergies and respiratory health problems such as asthma, cold and flu. [1] [2] [3]
- Helps release serotonin, a hormone that makes you calm and happy. Healthy serotonin levels are also related to better cognitive functions such as memory and learning
A growing body of research also supports that healthy levels of vitamin D in pregnancy, infancy and in toddlers may help lower the risk of developing autism.
2. Makes bones and muscles strong
The best time to build strong, healthy bones is between the ages of 9-14. Building healthy bones in childhood reduces the risk of osteoporosis and fractures in later life. We gain most of our bone mass just before and during teen years. Weight bearing activities like walking, running, jumping rope, and climbing helps form new bone tissue, making the bone stronger. These activities also make the muscles healthy.
3. Prevents obesity and related disorders
Sedentary lifestyle is one of the main factors linked to childhood obesity. Overweight kids are at an increased risk of developing diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease in later years of their life. Worse yet, obesity can also impact a child’s social and emotional health with long-term implications. It can be a huge blow to their self-esteem and confidence among their peers, making them depressed, aggressive and isolated. This can also affect their academic performance.
When kids play outside, they are more likely to get some sort of exercise. Whether they are running around, riding bikes, playing basketball or simply walking, the point is they are physically active, something that they don’t do enough while playing games on their phones and other gadgets. This kind of regular physical activity reduces the risk of obesity and other health problems usually associated with excess body weight.
4. Lowers myopia risk
Myopia, or near-sightedness, is a condition in which you can see closer objects without glasses, but distant objects appear blurred. It is one of the main reasons why kids may need glasses. Myopia can be genetic but too much close-up work like reading and spending too much time on computers and tablets may also increase the risk.
A lot of studies suggest that spending time outdoors during childhood may reduce odds of developing myopia later in life. [4] [5] A study published in JAMA Ophthalmology found that adequate exposure to UVB in adolescence and younger adult life lowers the risk of developing myopia in later years. [6]
So, what is the relation between time spent outdoors and reduced risk of myopia in children?
Researchers think it could be exposure to brighter light levels, when kids play outside. Special cells in the retina (called dopaminergic amacrine cells) release dopamine in response to bright light. The retinal dopamine prevents the eyeball from growing too long. Elongated eyeball leads to myopia. It makes the images fall short of the retina, the reason why distant objects start looking blurred.
5. Helps build immunity
Fresh air and exercise can do wonders to your child’s immunity. Outdoor experiences such as contact with soil and rocks, expose children to germs. This stimulates their immune system and helps them develop better immunity over time, making them less prone to allergies, asthma and cold. Additionally, exercise is believed to trigger the production of white blood cells, both in adults and in children.
A 2016 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that Amish children who lived on small farms had low rates of asthma. The study concluded that the farm environment “provides protection against asthma by engaging and shaping the innate immune response.” The microbial load in their homes and community activate their innate immune system. Researchers found that Amish had more blood cells that fight infection and fewer of those that promote allergic response. [7]
6. Healthy brain
Outdoor play usually involves jumping, running and walking. These activities not only bring physical benefits but also make your child’s brain healthy in a lot of important ways. Exercise allows the brain to grow and recharge in a way that produces social, cognitive, emotional and academic benefits. [8]
- Increases blood flow – providing more oxygen and nutrients to all the body parts including the brain. This improves brain function and performance.
- Helps release hormones (serotonin) and other substances (BDNF) that are related to brain development, social behavior and feelings of happiness in both children and adults. This helps with an improved ability to learn, focus, memorize and maintain attention while reducing stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms. All these outcomes are especially relevant for kids with ADHD.
- Boosts imagination and creativity
7. Healthy sleep
Active outdoor play helps children sleep better, a benefit that contributes to overall physical and mental health in its own way. Healthy sleep cycles do what?
- Energizes the body
- Helps release hormones that are required for healthy repair, growth and development
- Improves memory, learning, attention and self-control
8. Reduce ADHD symptoms in children
Outdoor play improves symptoms in children with attention deficit disorder (ADHD), making them calmer and more focused. Interestingly, studies show that regular exposure to open green spaces, with lots of grass and trees around, is even more likely to improve ADHD symptoms. [9] Letting your child play in natural settings for as little as 20 minutes, can help improve their focus and attention big time. [10]
Outdoor exercise, in particular, has specific benefits for kids with ADHD. It reduces stress, improves sleep, releases brain hormones and triggers other favorable bio-chemical changes in the brain – all leading to improved mood, attention and behavior. This also helps in reducing symptoms like impulsivity and behavior outbursts.
Kids with ADHD have issues with executive functioning – a set of skills that help you stay on a task and complete it. It is an umbrella term for skills like planning, organizing, remembering details, picturing things mentally, managing time, self-restraint and paying attention. Exercise helps the brain grow in areas that are closely related to self-regulation and executive functioning, thus offering important benefits in ADHD kids.
9. Promotes social skills
The benefits of outdoor play go beyond the mainstream physical and mental well-being. Children learn to experiment, explore, take risks and discover. Playing together in a team help kids to learn important social skills such as sharing, waiting for their turn and be independent.
Don’t let technology affect your kid’s experiences. Encourage your kids to indulge in active outdoor play. Let them dance, run barefoot, fly kites or play in sand. A dose of nature will do your kids some real good.
References:
- Bener et al. The impact of Vitamin D deficiency on asthma, allergic rhinitis and wheezing in children: An emerging public health problem. J Family Community Med. 2014
- Hooman Mirzakhani et al. Vitamin D and the development of allergic disease: how important is it? Clin Exp Allergy. 2015.
- Martineau et al. Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections: systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data. BMJ. 2017
- Shah et al. Time Outdoors at Specific Ages During Early Childhood and the Risk of Incident Myopia. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2017
- Sherwin et al. The association between time spent outdoors and myopia in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ophthalmology. 2012
- Katie M. Williams, Graham C. G. Bentham, Ian S. Young et al. Association Between Myopia, Ultraviolet B Radiation Exposure, Serum Vitamin D Concentrations, and Genetic Polymorphisms in Vitamin D Metabolic Pathways in a Multicountry European Study. JAMA Ophthalmol., 2016
- Stein et al. Innate Immunity and Asthma Risk in Amish and Hutterite Farm Children. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2016.
- Edgar L., Rheta A. The Importance of Outdoor Play and Its Impact on Brain Development in Children. UMKC.
- Taylor et al. Could Exposure to Everyday Green Spaces Help Treat ADHD? Evidence from Children’s Play Settings. Applied Psychology. 2011.
- Andrea Faber Taylor, Frances Kuo. News on Green Therapy. ADDitude
