Does Our Disconnection from Nature Really Matter?

Human beings have spent the majority of their existence on Earth innovating. Trying to make life easier, faster and more accessible. As one of the youngest species on Earth, our progress has been fast and furious. We create grand complex systems to inhabit, and a multitude of gadgets to keep us sedentary and entertained. All while forgetting that as mammals we are still connected within the interconnection of our ecosystems.  While we like to believe it, we are not above, but just a piece of our ecosystems. So why does this matter, and why does the disconnection from the land we inhabit under all of this concrete hold the key to health and wellbeing?  

Richard Louv the author of the very impactful book Last Child in the Woods coins the unofficial diagnosis of Nature Deficit Disorder. He describes it as “the human cost of alienation from nature” stating related symptoms include “diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illness”. Does this sound like the society we live in? Research shows that the loss of connection from nature and our natural habitat has enormous implications for human health and child development including behavioural problems, societal despair, and stunted human development. Louv states that addictive behaviour, depression, anxiety, isolation, stress and a general loss of purpose are all systemic issues that can be traced back to the massive loss of culture and nature connection. New research shows that re-establishing this connection to nature provides a powerful form of therapy and holds the key to healing. Nature calms our nervous systems and focuses yet activates our senses.

In Angela Hanscome’s Balanced and Barefoot, she introduces the idea that children today, in our sedentary lifestyles, are developing at a slower and weaker pace. Children are injuring themselves more because they are not allowed to practice these skills like running on uneven terrain or climbing on a wet, slippery rock. Our parenting is filled with cautionary phrases like; “be careful”, “that’s too high”, or “you will fall” etc. This lack of complex use is causing this generation of children to have weaker bones and muscles than previous generations caused by a sedentary lifestyle and lack of exposure to vitamin D from sunlight. When children spend the majority of their time indoors, they have decreased overall strength and stamina, difficulty with poor attention skills, controlling emotions, and balance, increased aggression, and develop weakened immune systems. When we spend the majority of our time in buildings, cars, our homes, or indoor extracurricular activities, we are damaging the ability to adapt and develop to our full potential. Our bodies were meant to move, to be challenged and to receive nutrients from the natural world. This is why we often see children bouncing or fidgeting to try and focus, they are trying to activate their vestibular system which activates the brain to help you pay attention.

Nature supports nervous system regulation, just breathing in forest air strengthens our immune system and promotes mental and physical relaxation which we know is key to children’s learning. Time spent in nature helps us to relax and focus better, improves our sleep, and boosts our mood and energy levels. Just seeing the colour green releases serotonin.

Children learn best when they are calm, alert, happy, and connected, when they just feel good, they are open to receiving information and being outside provides us with the ideal balance of expansive sensory stimulation without overstimulation. This creates the optimal opportunity for informal play with formal learning. Developing this sensory input and output allows us to regulate our internal state and achieve a deeper level than indoor environments can provide. Sensory integration is when we take all the stimuli detected by our senses and organize them for functional use. This helps us process information about our environments. The goal is to experience our environment with our whole brain by utilizing all of our senses at the same time. The more sensory experiences a child receives, the more integrated and organized their brain, senses and body become. Sensory-rich experiences are compounded outdoors. It's hard to achieve good sensory integration when surrounded by noise bouncing off walls with 20 people in a room, or bright lights or varying smells. Outdoors, nature stimuli tend to be more gentle, subtle, preventative, and often restorative. Nature establishes the natural integration of our senses, a calm but alert state through a “just right” balance of sensory stimuli. When children and adults are immersed in nature, they are calmer, more alert and more physically relaxed. Being active outside also protects our physical health by increasing blood flow to different parts of the body, increasing oxygen intake, and activating the lymphatic system which transports lymph (the clear fluid that contains essential infection-fighting white blood cells throughout the body). This system helps rid the body of toxins, waste and other unwanted materials creating a healthy immune system and stimulating the gut, aiding good digestion.

The multitude of reasons our bodies and minds belong outdoors supports the idea that optimal human development requires a connection to our lands and demonstrates the direct connection to the mental and physical health crisis our indoor sedentary society is experiencing. This is why nature connection matters more now than ever before.

With love,

Stephanie