Health Benefits of Nature

In my short four months as a mama, I have found that I am far from a perfect parent, but no one is perfect. However, I do pride myself on the fact that I have managed to keep my son outside through the winter, despite the chilly temperatures and windy weather. Most parents dread having a baby during flu season, and I can’t say I was thrilled with that timing, but just a few days before my son was born I came to the realization that our best option for evading all the bugs and other negatives that come with being born around the winter was to simply go outside. So here are a few of the many health benefits that come with spending more time outdoors with your kiddos.

Myopia: Myopia, near nearsightedness, development in children is currently on the rise worldwide. Too much screen time is thought to be one of the largest contributing factors to the drastic increase in myopia diagnoses in children, which is partially true but not completely to blame. Multiple studies have found that children have reduced odds of developing myopia by spending more time outdoors in natural light. They suggest that sunlight plays a key role in the development of children’s vision, and nowadays many kids spend most of their free time indoors staring at screens depriving their eyes of natural light.

“A Little Dirt Never Hurt”: Not only does a little dirt not hurt, getting a little dirty can help boost your child’s immune system. Not all germs are bad. According to the Biodiversity Hypothesis, exposure to germs helps boost our immune systems. Not surprisingly, our immune systems are becoming hyper-sensitive because we spend most of our time indoors in sterile environments. So, relax and take a breath next time your kiddo puts a stick in their mouth or gets dirt all over their face, they’re just boosting their immune system.

Serotonin: Sunlight increases our body’s production of a neurotransmitter called serotonin. Serotonin is associated with triggering feelings of happiness. If we spend too much time indoors, our body begins to produce less serotonin. This is part of the reason many people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder [SAD] in the winter when there are less sunlight hours and we tend to spend more time inside. Not only can serotonin boost our mood it can also help reach a more sustained deep sleep and facilitate a healthy appetite.

Spring is just around the corner, which means in the next few weeks people will start emerging from their cozy homes to enjoy their first breathes of the fresh spring air, like bears hibernating through the winter. If you’re looking to plugin with a community of families who are connecting with nature, I recommend checking out your local Hike it Baby group. Auburn’s local Hike it Baby group hosts various levels of hikes and walks for babies, toddlers and preschoolers.

 For more information go to…  

 

Hike It Baby: Community 

 

Resources:

https://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420(12)00363-6/abstract

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5407804/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1726490116300788

https://www.pnas.org/content/109/21/8334.abstract

Dirt is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child’s Developing Immune System – Jack Gilbert, PHD & Rob Knight, PHD