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Mind:
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- Nature, An ADHD Natural
Treatment
- By Jeannine
Virtue
My mother’s warning; “You
are going to rot your brain out...” still rings through
my mind whenever I spend too much time in front of the television
set.
I grew up in a time when mothers
shooed their children out - rain, snow or shine - to get a breath
of fresh air. Our television set tuned in to only four or five
channels and those channels signed off at midnight. It would
be years before cable television, satellite dish, VCRs and Nintendo
would debut. Lazy summer days were spent riding bicycles for
hours because there wasn’t much of anything better to do.
This period of time was also
a few decades before Ritalin and Attention Deficit would become
commonplace terms.
I have long believed that inactive
hours spent indoors has contributed to the increased incidence
of Attention Deficit Disorder. A recent study, published in the
September 2004 issue of the “American Journal of Public
Health,” validates that believe.
University of Illinois researchers
studied nature as an ADHD natural treatment. This study showed
that children with ADHD benefit from time outdoors enjoying nature
with a significant reduction of ADHD symptoms.
Researchers of this nationwide
recruited the parents of 322 boys and 84 girls, all diagnosed
with ADHD, through ads in major newspapers and the Internet.
Participants, ages 5 to18, spent time in a variety of settings
which varied from big cities to rural settings. Some activities
were conducted indoors, others in outdoor places without much
greenery such as parking lots and downtown areas and other activities
were in "green" areas such as a tree-lined street,
back yards or parks. The parents were interviewed and asked to
report how their children performed after participating in a
wide range of activities.
The researchers found that
symptoms were reduced most in green outdoor settings, even when
the same activities were compared across different settings.
Researchers believe that simply incorporating nature into a child’s
day could be widely effective in reducing ADHD symptoms.
Based on the results of this
ADHD natural treatment study, researchers recommend that children
with ADHD spend quality after-school hours and weekend time outdoors
enjoying nature.
Study authors Frances E. Kuo
and Andrea Faber Taylor suggested that daily doses of ''green
time'' might supplement medications and behavioral approaches
to ADHD if clinical trials and additional research confirm the
value of nature as a natural treatment for ADHD.
The study findings indicate
that exposure to ordinary natural settings in the course of common
after-school and weekend activities may be widely effective in
reducing attention deficit symptoms in children.
In each comparison (there were
56 in all), green outdoor activities received more positive ratings
over the activities taking place in other settings. In 54 of
the 56, the difference was significant, signaling that the findings
were consistent.
Researchers said that exposing
ADHD children to nature is an affordable, healthy method of controlling
symptoms. Researchers also suggested that daily doses of "green
time" can supplement medications and other traditional treatments
of ADHD.
Simply using nature may offer
a way to help manage ADHD symptoms that is readily available,
doesn't have any stigma associated with it, doesn't cost anything,
and doesn't have any side effects.
ADHD natural “green”
treatment has endless possibilities, many of which might closely
resemble childhoods from years long past.
Here are just a few ideas for
increasing "green time":
- Play in a green yard or ball
field at recess and after school.
- Take after-dinner walks.
- Make a scarecrow.
- Doing class work or homework
outside or at a window with a relatively green view.
- Build a birdhouse.
- Grow an outdoor garden.
- Bike, ski, sled, inline skate...
- Visit a nature center.
- Choose a greener route for
the walk to school.
- Participate in local nature
clean-ups.
- Take up bird watching.
- Star gaze.
_______________________________________
- Author:
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- (c) Jeannine Virtue 2005
-
- Jeannine Virtue is a freelance writer with a focus
on issues relating to Attention Deficit Disorder. For research-based
information about Attention Deficit Disorder, practical tips
to help parents survive the task of raising Attention Deficit
children and information about effective Ritalin alternatives,
please visit http://www.add-adhd-help-center.com/.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
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ARTICLE POSTED
JANUARY 13, 2005
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