Time In the Woods and Open Spaces: Clear Mental and Physical Health Benefits, Especially for Children.

If you’re trying to decide what to do with some free time, especially if you have children, you might consider the scientifically-observed beneficial effects of just being outdoors in some wild spaces. Here’s a link to an Inverse article “Scientists Discover a Major Lasting Benefit of Growing Up Outside the City,” summarizing some of the findings by researchers about the correlations between the lack of exposure to “nature” and some negative mental and physical health outcomes for kids. Here is an abstract of a paper published some time ago in the Journal of Attention Disorders entitled “Children with attention deficits concentrate better after walk in the park.” As National Geographic put it in a 2017 article, “We are Wired to Be Outside.” The “Wired” article, an interview with the author of “The Nature Fix,” encompasses Jane Austen, ‘forest bathing,’ and how time in the woods can help people suffering from PTSD.

The studies and work available through these links reflect a small part of a body of research regarding the connection between well-being and time spent in what is often referred to as “green space.” Like our Farm. Scientifically speaking, making time for it is worth your while.