How is Nature Therapeutic?

This article is extracted from Angela Hanscom's book "Balanced and Barefoot."

By design nature is inherently therapeutic. Everything from the scents of flowers to the sounds of birds stimulate the senses and set children up for healthy sensory integration. We are going to spend some time now learning about how some of the senses are not only enhanced by but literally thrive when children play or even look at natural settings. 

Nature is Calming

Adam Alter, an assistant professor of marketing and psychology at New York University’s Stern School of Business, describes the phenomenon of how nature is calming perfectly. “Nature restores mental functioning in the same way that food and water restore bodies. The business of everyday life—dodging traffic, making decisions and judgement calls, interacting with strangers—is depleting, and what man-made environments take away from us, nature gives back” (2013).

Letting children play outdoors, away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, provides respite. It gives them a break from the constant routine, the Hurry up, we are going to be late requests; bright colors; noxious smells; and noise and commotion that the man-made world has created. It allows them to unwind and recharge. I regularly observe nature having a calming effect on children. In fact, at TimberNook we’ve noticed that children are louder and more active when close to buildings versus when playing in the river or woods. Away from buildings, time and time again, children disperse, get quiet, and find purpose. 

Even simply looking at nature is calming for children. Researchers asked a hundred sets of parents—whose children presented with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder—how their children responded to different playtime activities. The children who sat indoors in a room with natural views were calmer than children who played outside in man-made environments devoid of grass and trees (Taylor, Kuo, and Sullivan 2001). This study shows that whether children are indoors or outdoors, having nature present is a key ingredient to grounding and relaxation. 

We know now that nature stimuli are calming to children. Although complete immersion in nature, away from buildings, provides total restoration for children and should be done when possible, this may not be practical or even possible for everyone. Simply looking at or being around some nature stimuli will certainly help children to relax. Consider growing a garden for your child to interact with, planting trees, even just having a small area of grass for your child to play on; all these examples provide benefits that blacktop alone can’t provide.

Nature Improves the Visual Sense 

Nature stimuli are often subtle and mild. The colors found in nature are typically gentle on the eyes. They do not overpower or overstimulate.  As humans beings, we rely heavily on our visual sense. What we allow our children to see on a daily basis will affect their mood, temperament, and ability to focus. Also, playing outdoors can positively affect the function and growth of the eyes.  

My old office was awash in bright colors designed to excite children. However, since most everything in the clinic was screaming Look at me!, children became visually overwhelmed in that space. 

My oldest daughter, for example, used to love to visit the therapy clinic. However, as soon as she entered the room she lost the ability to effectively regulate her senses. Her visual sense became so overwhelmed that everything else went out the window. For instance, the volume of her voice became increasingly louder, and she ran from one piece of equipment to the next in a hyperactive state. She was literally “off the wall.” One reason for this behavior is that our visual sense is designed to alert us to danger, and everything in the clinic caused a heightened state of alertness. Visual overstimulation sent my daughter’s arousal level through the roof. 

On the other hand, when my daughter played in the woods she had no difficulty controlling her activity level. She was grounded and calm. She was still active, but she maintained control of her body. Why did the natural environment affect my daughter’s ability to regulate her behavior? There are a number of studies that have looked at how visual environments impact learning and mood. 

Carnegie Mellon’s Anna Fisher, Karrie Godwin, and Howard Seltman (2014) looked at whether classroom displays affect children’s ability to maintain focus during instruction and when studying lesson content. They found that children in highly decorated classrooms were more distracted, spent more time off task, and demonstrated smaller learning gains compared to when they were in classrooms with blank walls.  In other words, keeping things visually simple (as nature has already done for us) can assist with learning.

Man-made environments often utilize colors that are not found in nature. These stronger and more intense visual stimuli can have an alarming effect on our brainstem, particularly the reticular system. The reticular system is responsible for processing and integrating sensory information. It contributes to our level of arousal, or alertness. If the visual stimuli are too forceful, children can experience heightened levels of arousal and activity. On the other hand, softer colors and more subtle visual stimuli have a calming effect on a child’s sensory system. This leads to an organized and calm state that is ideal for promoting healthy sensory integration (Roley, Blanch, and Schaaf 2001). Children need time being in and looking at nature in order to be in an optimal state for play and learning. Allowing nature to be a visual part of children’s lives not only improves their mood and prepares them for learning but sets them up for healthy sensory integration. 

Nature Fosters Listening 

Loud sirens. Traffic noises. An alarm. Noisy concerts. Blaring music. These types of sounds, also known as noise pollution, often put children into a fight-or-flight response. In such a state they are no longer able to pay attention to what is in front of them (Frick and Young 2012). Our bodies weren’t meant to be in a constant state of arousal or stress. In fact, being exposed to noise pollution for hours every day may actually harm young children. 

In contrast, researchers have found that nature sounds provide a restorative effect. In a study at Stockholm University, forty adults were exposed to sounds from nature and noisy environments after completing stressful mental arithmetic tasks. The researchers found that the sympathetic nervous system recovered faster when the subjects listened to nature sounds versus the noisy stimuli (Alvarsson, Wiens, and Nilsson 2010).

If loud man-made noises can alter the brain so it doesn’t work as effectively, and nature sounds (for example, sounds of waves crashing or crickets chirping) provide healing, it makes sense to advocate for children to be in natural settings in order to enhance and promote positive sensory integration. 

There are also great sensory benefits from listening to birds. Many children in occupational therapy wear special headphones a couple of times a day for a few months if they have trouble with hearing and listening. They listen to specially modulated music, some of which contains nature sounds designed to improve children’s mood, attention, auditory processing skills (such as the ability to respond to their name more quickly), social interaction, and activity level. The nature sounds activate the auditory center of the brain, helping children orient themselves to their place in space (Frick and Young 2012). 

The results of these occupational therapy programs are incredible. After participating in a listening program, most children display substantial improvements in at least two areas of their life, such as having better sleeping habits, experiencing improved emotional control, and being able to respond to their name quickly and effectively (Frick and Young 2012).  

I interviewed Mary Kawar (MS, OT/L), pediatric occupational therapist who studies the relationships between the vestibular (balance), auditory, and visual systems. She works closely with the developers of a well-known American-based listening program. I asked her if the children spent more time outdoors imply listening to birds, would it affect their spatial awareness? “Absolutely!” she answered. 

Bird sounds help us orient ourselves to our place in space. For instance, you may hear a bird tweet to your far right, and then another off to the left. These tweets help you locate your position in relation to the sounds coming in. However, since noise pollution really dampens the therapeutic effects of nature sounds, it’s best to be away from city sounds in order to reap the most benefits from birds singing. The sounds of nature will work to improve children’s sensory development over time. 

Nature Enhances the Sense of Touch 

I have to admit, watching children play and explore in the large mud puddles at TimberNook has to be one of my favorite things to do. I think this is one of the most meaningful sensory experiences a child can have. 

Picture children knee-deep in muddy water searching intently for slimy green frogs. “Yuck! This feels mushy,” a girl says as she processes the new sensations and learns to navigate the water without falling. Another child slips and falls into the puddle. “Ugh!” He is momentarily shocked. No one reacts to his fall. He gets back up and starts laughing. “Look at me! Look how dirty I am!” Another child laughs and purposefully falls into the puddle. 

The sensations of getting dirty and messy in real mud offer children an invaluable rich and tactile experience. The tactile system is flexible, and through exposure to various tactile experiences, children increase their tolerance to different touch sensations. If a child has a poor tolerance to touch,  he may have trouble wearing a variety of different clothing, may refuse to go barefoot, and may even have trouble with school tasks such as using glue without getting upset. That’s why it is important to expose children to a variety of different textures at an early age. 

It is one of the many reasons why there’s a growing trend for parenting blogs to include sensory activities—from shaving-cream play to creating slime and differently textured playdough. These experiences are entertaining for a short period of time; however, playing outdoors often expands the touch experience to involve the whole body, further enhancing the sensory benefits. 
For a better understanding of this notion, let’s compare playing indoors with a bin full of sand to being on the beach. The child indoors will most likely engage only his hands in the sensory bin. He may play with plastic scoops and containers. He’ll probably sit under the watchful eye of an adult. 

Now picture this same child on the beach. The sensations of the sun warm the boy’s skin. Water splashes on him and his feet sink in the mud as he fills the bucket with cold, crisp water. He kneels down next to his sandcastle—exposing more of his body to the rough sensations of sand. He digs with his fingers to make a moat around the castle. He finds slimy seaweed and rough, spiky shells to line his castle with. By the time he is done building his sandcastle, hours later since he took breaks to swim and eat, he is covered from head to toe in sand and mud and has a huge grin on his face. 
Although the first experience may be what we think of when we say, “give the child a sensory experience,” in the second example many more senses were ignited.  

Also, when children are pushing, pulling, or digging on the beach, they are better tolerating and integrating light touch experiences, such as a soft wind blowing on the face and the feel of the sand. Children with sensory-processing issues can sometimes be extremely averse to light-touch stimuli, such as playing in the sand or having seaweed brush up against the skin, when they are experienced in isolation. However, the bigger movements of playing on the beach help override the light-touch sensations and improve tolerance (Ayres 2000).  

While man-made environments may excite children, they may overwhelm or overstimulate them. Indoor environments can also under stimulate and offer few sensory benefits to children. The great outdoors, on the other hand, offers limitless possibilities for play experiences and exploration of the senses, enhancing and refining the senses through repeated practice. It is through daily play outdoors that your children will challenge and strengthen their senses of touch, vision, hearing, smell taste, and much more. 

References

Alter, A. 2013. “How Nature Resets Our Minds and Bodies.” Atlantic, March. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/03/how-nature-resets-our-minds-and-bodies/274455/ 

Alvarsson, J. J., S. Wiens, and M. E. Nilsson. 2010. “Stress Recovery During Exposure to Nature Sound and Environmental Noise.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 7 “(3): 1036:1046 

Ayres, J. A. 2000. Sensory Integration and the Child. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.

Fisher, A. V., K. E. Godwin, and H. Seltman. 2014. “Visual Environment, Attention Allocation, and Learning in Young Children: When Too Much of a Good Thing May Be Bad.” Psychological Science 25 (7): 1362-1370.

Frick, S. M., and S. R. Young. 2012. Listening with the Whole Body: Clinical Concepts and Treatment Guidelines for Therapeutic Listening. Madison, WI: Vital Links. 

Hamilton, J. 2014. “Scientists Say Child's Play Helps Build A Better Brain.” NPR Ed. August 6. https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/08/06/336361277/scientists-say-childs-play-helps-build-a-better-brain

Roley, S. S., E. I. Blanche, and R. C. Schaaf. 2001. Understanding the Nature of Sensory Integration with Diverse Populations. San Antonio, TX: Therapy Skill Builders.

Taylor, A., F., F.E. Kuo, and W.C. Sullivan. 2001. “Coping with ADD: The Surprising Connection to Green Play Settings.” Environment and Behavior 33 (1): 54-77 

Ulrich, R.S. 1984. “View Through a Window May Influence Recovery From Surgery.” Science, New Series 224 (4647): 420-421. Retrieved from http://www.majorhospitalfoundation.org/pdfs/View%20Through%20a%20Window.pdf.