Nature: A Potent Treatment for Behavioral Issues

Time outdoors can foster creativity, longevity, and a better quality of life for children and adults

Encourage your children's natural sense of curiosity by taking them out in nature where they can explore, and get away from devices. ESB Professional/Shutterstock

Alexx Seipp’s two children exhibited constant boredom, fighting over toys and acting aggressively—until the family moved playtime outside.

Seipp has fostered 15 children in the past five years, so discovering a way to help her children was important. Seipp participated in the “1000 Hours Outside” challenge and extended outdoor play to three to four consecutive hours with her adopted children. She watched as it melted their incessant need for attention and inability to play independently, both effects of early trauma.

“When you’re in nature, there are unlimited rocks and sticks. You don’t need to fight over the materials,” Seipp said. “At home, I had to work to keep them busy, entertained, and out of trouble. But outdoors, they would happily play for an hour or more with just a creek bed, some sticks, and some rocks.

“I felt like I also got a chance to breathe and would read a book. It became self-care that I could do with my kids since childcare was limited.”

Experts say unstructured imaginative play, which organically happens outdoors, increases social, emotional, and cognitive development to help children to grow into mature, well-rounded members of society.

Tending to curiosity is a big deal for overall health—and not just for children. Older adults who remain curious live longer, happier lives.

Ginny Yurich, founder of the 1000 Hours Outside movement and author of the book by the same name, discovered 11 years ago that she needed nature as much as her kids did. A friend suggested that the frazzled mom take her three children, who were younger than 3, outdoors for several hours.

“I thought it was going to be a disaster, but it instead turned out to be one of the most significant days of my life. It was the first good day I had as a mom,” she recalled.

“Mother Nature kept the interest of my children, and I had, for the first time, a legitimate break from the ever-pressing needs of our kids. It was as if, in that moment, Mother Nature mothered them, but she also mothered me.”

Yurich started her blog two years later, inspired by the works of British educational reformer Charlotte Mason, who advocated for four to six hours outdoors daily. It’s since become a worldwide movement of families from all backgrounds who are committed to being outside as much as possible.

Nature Versus Noise

Digital screens are pervasive in our daily life and have all but devoured the normal childhood experience. To free their children from the addictive grip of video games and social media, parents aim to nurture a love of something healthier in the real world. If that thing is the beautiful outdoors, it’s a bonus for the brain.

Psychologist Nicholas Kardaras is a critic of Silicon Valley’s playbook of techniques designed to keep kids engaged and hooked on apps and games. In his book “Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction is Hijacking Our Kids—and How to Break the Trance,” he highlights studies showing that we’re losing sensory awareness at a rate of 1 percent per year.

Yurich has witnessed that loss firsthand.

“Beyond the effects of screen time on attention spans, there are also key developmental experiences that are missed when kids spend too much time in the two-dimensional world. Complex movements and sensory experiences that occur in nature help enhance the very way the brain functions,” Yurich said.

Like many people, Jane Glover, a San Francisco-area mother of four said her fondest childhood memories revolve around catching tadpoles in a nearby creek and sliding down hills on cardboard. She still enjoys nature and does her best to break the trance that media can cast on her and her children.

A photographer and writer, Glover has a blog about hikes in Marin County called Marinside Out, in which she offers resources on encouraging children to hike, what to put in your hiking bag, and links to recommended gear. Among her tips for getting kids to hit (and enjoy) the trails:

• Pack snacks.
• Take plenty of breaks.
• Pick a trail that caters to their skill level.
• Take time to examine small details along the way.
• Reward children afterward.
• Let them take photos or journal.
• Allow them to be the leader.
• Play games as you go.
• Pick trails with kid-friendly features such as waterfalls or rope swings.
• Let them bring a friend.

A Family Battles Screen Use

Glover has witnessed transformations in her children as the family stayed determined to take life outdoors.

Her 15-year-old daughter has taken her phone along and complained about hiking, only to later express relief when the lack of a phone signal gave her a break from online drama. She’s also completed several complicated hikes that have boosted her confidence and have become the subject of school reports while motivating her to keep hiking.

Glover’s 13-year-old son used his own money to buy a gaming system that he later recognized he’d become addicted to. He came to his parents confessing he didn’t like what the gaming was doing to him, then sold the system and bought a mountain bike.

“He now enjoys mountain biking instead of gaming, and he hasn’t looked back,” Glover said. “Since selling his Xbox, he’s drawing again, being creative, and spending time outside mountain biking—things that make him feel good about himself that he can truly be proud of.”

But the biggest transformation was with her 9-year-old son, who was lying about how long he was playing video games, ignoring time restrictions, arguing repeatedly about it, and throwing destructive tantrums.

“I was so worried that I even reached out to our pediatrician for advice on what to do about his tantrums and mood dysregulation. I was convinced he needed psychiatric help or possibly medication,” she said.

But once the video gaming systems were removed from the home, he began going outside more, visiting a local skate park and mastering tricks on his scooter, and stopped asking for video games after about a week.

“His tantrums have stopped, and he’s a much happier boy,” Glover said. “He’s also much more focused at school. I truly believe removing the screens and spending time outdoors was the cure for him, and I feel very fortunate that he doesn’t need medications to control his mood.”

Mental Health Drugs Limit Curiosity

The Glovers are among a growing number of families that have or are considering medication for mental health struggles. In children where trauma is more likely, so is medication. But antipsychotics come with a troubling trade-off.

According to one study of Medicaid data in 13 states, 12.4 percent of children in foster care received antipsychotics, compared with 1.4 percent of children on Medicaid. The medications, used to make children less aggressive and more manageable, come with the high price of limiting motivation, play, and curiosity, according to Dr. Bessel van der Kolk in his book “The Body Keeps the Score.”

Yurich, who is immersed in research for her own book due to come out later this year, said the addictive quality of technology undoubtedly strains family relationships, increases nagging, shortens attention spans, and fuels arguments.

“Kids have less capacity to deal with boredom and have increasingly more difficult times turning inward to deal with downtime as well as with stressful situations,” she said. “We aren’t an anti-screen movement, but we’re attempting to restore balance to our lives that have increasingly swung in the direction of using technology for fulfillment, entertainment, and connection.”

Two years after beginning to strategically implement long periods of nature into her family’s weekly routine, Yurich added up how much time they were spending outside, which came to about 1,200 hours a year—matching the average amount of time American kids spend on screens. That eye-opening moment is what caused her to go public with their lifestyle.

She said that kids are motivated to keep playing when they’re with friends, learning creativity, cooperation, and collaboration. Nature provides all the resources for this and ample opportunity to learn the art of getting along with others.

“There are studies upon studies that point to the emotional reprieve that comes with stepping outside,” Yurich said. “The sights, sounds, smells, and textures of nature all contribute to bringing our blood pressure down and helping us experience times of great peace and contentment.”

Adults Need Nature, Too

For Glover, every moment outdoors is worthwhile, and her stress comes down as she steps away from the steady stream of emails and texts. Adults spend more than 10 hours a day behind a screen, according to 2016 Neilsen data.

“Answers just have a way of presenting themselves in a way that they can’t when I’m distracted by all of the things that go with screens,” she said. “I’m able to confront the challenges of the day with a clear mind just knowing that I have done something worthwhile with my day by being out in nature.”

Eco-wellness and eco-therapy are trending subjects within mental health. Therapists are prescribing time outdoors as a solution for cognitive and emotional struggles. How much time is needed? A June 2019 study in Scientific Reports found that just two hours a week, either in small increments or one chunk, had substantial benefits on overall wellness.

You may not need the outdoors to foster curiosity as an adult, but the benefits of both nature and curiosity might be enough to motivate you to discover an outdoor hobby or experience.

In older adults, curiosity has been associated with longevity, according to a 1996 study published in Psychology and Aging. Even after taking into account age, smoking, cancer, and heart disease, those who rated themselves more curious at the beginning of the five-year study were more likely to be alive at the conclusion.

Curiosity also has a role in disease progression. Alongside hope, curiosity was studied over two years in more than 1,000 patients. Those who had higher levels of curiosity and hope had a decreased likelihood of developing hypertension, diabetes, and respiratory infections. The results were published in a 2005 issue of the journal Health Psychology.

What About Outdoor Sports?

It might be natural to wonder if organized sports outdoors is a good alternative, as it gets children, coaches, and parent spectators out of the house. The answer, according to Yurich, is sort of. The major difference is the opportunity for curiosity.

“I think any time spent outdoors is beneficial. It’s important to know, however, that the unstructured and semi-structured experiences allow for unique growth opportunities for children that can’t be found in the environments where adults lead,” she said.

“Organized youth sports alone will provide some benefits, but they don’t provide all of the benefits that open-ended play in nature gives to children.”

Seipp, who really began her outdoor journey after reading the book “There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather” by Linda Akeson McGurk, continues to schedule outdoor play with her kids and has seen it ease poor behavior.

“When we were having difficult behavior at home and I was stressed out, we would go outside and the stress would just melt away,” Seipp said.

“I could feel my body relax as they climbed logs and rocks and trees. Nature is big enough to absorb their hyperactivity and noise and energy.”