Attention In Children With ADHD Improved By A Walk In The Park

The results from a new study conducted by Andrea Faber Taylor and Frances E. Kuo of the University of Illinois have concluded that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) show greater attention after a 20-minute walk in a park than after a similar walk in a downtown area or a residential neighborhood.

According to the child environment and behavior researchers, "From our previous research, we knew there might be a link between spending time in nature and reduced ADHD symptoms.” Andrea Faber Taylor continued, “So to confirm that link we conducted a study in which we took children on walks in three different settings- one especially "green" and two less "green"- and kept everything about the walks as similar as possible."

Andrea explained, “We found that after the walk in the park children generally concentrated better than they did after a walk in the downtown area or the neighborhood area. The greenest space was best at improving attention after exposure."

Her colleague, Frances E. Kuo, added, "What this particular study tells us is that the physical environment matters. 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.”

The researchers noted that the children were unmedicated during the walks. Even those children who normally took meds to control their ADHS symptoms stayed off meds on the days of the walks. They said, “We were surprised to see that the dose of nature had effects the same size or even larger than the dose of medication." But, just how long the effects of a dose of nature lasts is to be seen.

The study concluded that the benefits of a dose of nature don't apply just to children with ADHD, but adults as well. "We're all on a continuum of attention so this study has implications for all of us. ADHD is just at the far end of attention functioning, but there're plenty of us who fall somewhere close to that end of the continuum, and we all experience times when we're mentally fatigued- times when we're less able to focus and do tasks and get easily distracted. The evidence suggests that natural settings can benefit everyone, even children (and adults) who have not been diagnosed with ADHD," said Andrea.