In 2006 when we began building Trailmix.Net, we pulled together a number of research papers about children and the outdoors. It was during this time that we first began following the research of Andrea Faber Taylor and Francis Kuo which documented an interesting connection between outdoor play in green settings and reduced ADHD symptoms.
Kuo and Fabor-Taylor recently published a study in the Journal of Attention Disorders that examines this observation more methodically. The study shows (using more controlled experimental methods) that children with ADHD truly do demonstrate improved attention after a walk in a park.
...."What this particular study tells us is that the physical environment matters," said Kuo. "We don't know what it is about the park, exactly - the greenness or lack of buildings - that seems to improve attention, but the study tells us that even though everything else was the same - who the child was with, the levels of noise, the length of time, the time of day, whether the child was on medication - if we kept everything else the same, we just changed the environment, we still saw a measurable difference in children's symptoms. And that's completely new. No one has done a study looking at a child in different environments, in a controlled comparison where everything else is the same."
You can read the full press release announcing publication of this study at the American Academy of Sciences Eurekalert!
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