Using nature and outdoor activity to improve children’s health

In the past couple of decades, children’s lives have become less physically active and more sedentary. Along with this, children are spending much less time outdoors, playing videos games, watching TV, or being on the computer instead. On average, young people take in 7.5 hours of media per day, which is 1 hour more per day than was reported 5 years ago. Some effects of the sedentary lives of children are a rise in type 2 diabetes in children, obesity, and vitamin D deficiency (which can lead to rickets, a skeletal abnormality). Vitamin D can be obtained from sun exposure and is important for bone health and immune function.

Adverse Health Outcomes

If obesity and other conditions exist into adulthood, they can lead to cardiovascular and pulmonary problems. Taking these factors into account, there should be a focus on the promotion of outdoor physical activity in order to improve the overall health of children. Physical activity has been proven to improve insulin sensitivity and maintain metabolic control in children with type 2 diabetes.

Being Outdoors Promotes Physical Activity

It has also been found that children who spend more time outdoors tend to do more physical activity. Parents of pre-school children have reported that their children normally engage in physical activity when they are outdoors, as opposed to doing indoor activities. Access to safe outdoor areas to play in has decreased in recent years, especially in big cities. However, many schools and local governments have come together to increase the amount of safe areas to play in that exist in community. Based on these study results, children should spend more time outdoors to increase their physical activity and get some much-needed sun exposure to ward off adverse nutrition-related outcomes.

Written by Camp Shane Nutritionist, Jessica Bouchard