In the Know ; Opinion
We’d all benefit from more ‘vitamin N’
A Call to Nature By Richard Louv
Marti Erickson always carries two col- lapsible chairs in her car. When she is having a particularly bad day, she
finds a grassy spot, plops down, breathes deeply
and soon is soothed by the nature around her.
“The reason I have a couple of those chairs,”
says the developmental psychologist, “is that
my oldest grandchild likes nature breaks, too,
and joins me when we’re out together.”
Based on research and firsthand experience,
Erickson says that time spent in nature “may
be one of the best and most accessible natural
stress-busters any individual or family
could find.”
She’s not alone in that belief. In 2005
in my book Last Child in the Woods, I in-
troduced the term “nature-deficit disor-
der,” not a medical diagnosis, but a way
to describe the growing gap between kids
and nature, and the consequences. Many
adults later spoke with deep emotion
about both their children’s deficit and
their own. My new book is more about
adults. It asks: What would our everyday
lives be like if we were as immersed in
nature as we are in technology?
A growing body of research links more
time in nature—or in home, work
or hospital environments enhanced
through nature-based design—with
reduction of stress and depression,
faster healing time and less need for
pain medication.
Health care professionals are taking
note. In 2010, a pilot program in Port-
land, Ore., began pairing physicians with park
professionals, who helped children and families
get their green exercise or, as I call it, their dose
of “vitamin N.”
Other benefits of vitamin N include enhanced
use of the senses and higher work productiv-
ity. In 2008, University of Michigan researchers
demonstrated that, after just an hour interact-
ing with nature, memory performance and at-
tention spans improved by 20 percent. In April,
researchers at the University of Kansas report-
ed a 50 percent boost in creativity for people
who were steeped in nature for a few days.
To reap the benefits of vitamin N, try these:
; Plant a garden. Create a backyard wildlife
habitat. Replant with native species to en-
courage butterfly and bird migration routes.
Bring the outdoors in by using nature-orient-
ed decoration, perhaps an indoor garden.
; Be a nature mentor to your children or grand-
children. Encourage them to dig holes or build
forts. (A small pickup load of dirt provides hours
of creative play.)
; Be a hummingbird—not a helicopter—par-
ent or grandparent. Don’t hover over your
children or grandchildren, but watch from a
What if we
all spent
a little
more time
outside?
distance as they play in nature.
; Create a nature club where
multiple families or groups of
adults share hikes and other
activities. Get to know nature
where you live. As writer Wen-
dell Berry put it, “You can’t know
who you are until you know where you are.”
A final thought: Boomers could be the last gen-
eration to remember a time when it was consid-
ered normal and expected for children to play in
woods and fields. When we leave this earth, will
the memory of such experiences leave with us?
Reconnecting the young to the natural world (as
we reconnect ourselves) could be our greatest,
most redemptive cause. ;
Richard Louv is the cofounder and chairman
emeritus of the Children & Nature Network and
author of The Nature Principle: Reconnecting
With Life in a Virtual Age.
