With the taste of warm weather we had this week I’m back to one of my favorite topics and that is the benefits of spending time in nature.

This is a topic I have covered before but this particular study in Frontiers in Psychology journal had a unique take.

They were evaluating how spending just 30 minutes in a natural setting, this case a forest, helped children to focus and restored their ability to direct their attention to a specific task.

To help understand the importance of this study we first need to understand that there are two types of attention. One is a directed or focused attention. This is when we are alerted to something and pay attention to it. So a bright light in a dark room or a loud noise. These are things that actively draw our attention. The other type is a softer focus that we experience in an outdoor environment where we are loosely paying attention to our surroundings. The sound of a babbling brook or the wind through the trees. These are things that we notice if we focus on them but they don’t demand our attention.

The focused attention can be further broken down to things that we have to consciously direct our attention to. The most relevant example for this discussion would be focusing on school work. This is something we have to choose to focus on.

This study was looking at the effect of spending 30 minutes in nature on being able to focus attention on a specific task. A unique aspect of this study is that they split the children in the study into two groups. One spent 30 minutes walking in a forest the other group spent 30 minutes walking in a city. The children were tested before and after their walks with a specific task that is designed to measure their attention and focus.

The results of the study showed that the children that spend 30 minutes in nature did better on the test after their walk. The children that went for the walk in the city actually did worse on the test after their walk.

The researchers reason this is because the walk in nature allows the brain to calm and wander as it focuses on the sights and sounds of the forest. A walk in the city can be anything but relaxing. You need to focus on traffic, other people, and your surroundings in more detail. This does not allow the brain to rest and reset and actually fatigues it.

Another interesting point they made in this study that concerns me is that this protective effect of nature may not last in future generations. As we become more and more removed from nature and spend less time outdoors the woods become scary and unfamiliar to children. If they are fearful when outdoors they won’t have that relaxing effect on their brain that allows them to return from the outdoors focused and ready to work.

So when you feel like you are having trouble focusing or staying on task take a break and go for a walk in the woods!