by Eva van Loon -Cognition Therapist

First, the bad news (which you parents probably already sense is the truth about our kids today), fingering the failure of our educational system to cope with today’s reality and give our kids the cognitive survival tools they’ll need. Are you ready?

(Keep in mind these stats are American; things are not so bad in Canada and definitely not so bad in Powell River.)

• Children today spend less time playing outdoors than any previous generation. Mothers cite safety concerns as a primary reason.

• Today’s children have more restricted ranges of free play, have fewer and less diverse playmates, and are more home-centered than any previous generation.

• Children’s free play and discretionary time declined more than 9 hours less a week over the last 25 years.

• Children under 6 spend an average of 1.5 hours a day with electronic media. Youth between 8 and 18 spend 6.5 hours a day with electronics—over 45 hours a week!

• Obesity in children has increased from about 4 per cent in the 1960s to almost 20 per cent in 2004.

• 62 per cent of children do not participate in any organized physical activity; 23 per cent do not participate in any free-time physical activity.

• The per cent of children who walk or bike to a school less than a mile away has declined 25 per cent in 30 years. Barely 21 per cent live within one mile of their school.

• While 71 per cent of adults report having walked or ridden to school, only 22 per cent of children do so today.

Now put together this picture with what you already know of the soaring incidence of learning disabilities, deficits and behaviour problems. Gee…could there be a connection?

A recent study showed that on a flat, paved playground, the biggest children tend to become the leaders, while on playgrounds consisting of more treed surfaces and natural features, the most intelligent children come out as leaders. Not surprisingly, there was also a great deal more bullying on the flat, paved playgrounds.

New studies suggest that forests and nature can enhance cognition and perhaps even repair emotional trauma. When we remember that our every emotion and thought can be viewed as a chemical event in the body, we suddenly begin to cherish those activities and surroundings that produce serotonin and acetylcholine (which enhance peacefulness, joyfulness, and cognition) rather than cortisol and adrenaline (when learning is less effective or permanent). Someday soon, some researcher will find that spending time in a forest, in nature, and in safe, loving environments is good for your brain—and your grades.

Fittingly, when learning is really going on, the forests in our brains are growing new trees, or dendrites (from Greek word dendron meaning tree). The more of these tiny branching structures you have, the smarter you are. As you age, fewer dendrons sprout, but to some extent you can increase their growth by taking up the habit of learning. Life-long learners propagate their interior forests right to the end of life—and are the happier for it.

What’s the downside? Get your body outside into that forest or garden and grow yourself some more brainpower.