and the healthiest color is GREEN
BY AMY KARHLIKER

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"hay play" by pam sanhamel, woodridge park district

We've always more than suspected that playing outside is good for us. We know that fresh oxygen coursing through our lungs and bloodstreams revives us when we are fatigued, lightens us when we are burdened. Indeed, many of us have built careers around the belief that kids behave better when they burn off extra steam playing outside. And, somehow, we've always just known that trees and flowers and wildlife bring an extra something into our lives, impossible, really, to put into words.

Now, research coming out of major universities is beginning to yield scientific evidence to our claim that parks — by their very being — stimulate good health.

The Proof is in the Parks

Study after study has long confirmed that physical activity is good for bones and muscles and hard on fat. But strong bodies can be built just as well on the stationary bike in the basement as they can at the park district fitness center.

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New research is going beyond physical health. Scientists are beginning to explore the connections between spending time outdoors at the local park and a more holistic concept of wellness. Initial findings hint that we are just beginning to understand scientifically how valuable our parks and conservation areas are — and not just from a concern for environmental stewardship.

What is it, exactly, about contact with nature that makes us feel better? Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, both PhDs at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, have developed what they call the attention restoration theory. Their research strongly suggests that contact with the outdoors — even through a window — allows the mechanism in the brain that focuses our attention on tasks and issues to rest. Rest is achieved because nature provides a level of what the Kaplans call "fascination." In nature, colors, movements and sounds are everywhere. Think of the last time there was a slight breeze and you watched how all of the leaves on a tree seemed to dance independently of one another, yet the whole tree moved as one. Think of how the undersides of leaves are often a different hue, making the tree "shimmer" in the breeze. And think of the sound of those leaves moving against each other — quiet, subtle music in shocking contrast to the blaring noise of the day.

Our brains don't have to work at thinking or focusing when we participate in nature even, or perhaps especially, if we aren't doing anything in particular. We don't need to consciously focus on the undersides of the leaves to see them shimmering. The shimmering happens and we see it. In other words, say the Kaplans, nature is automatically fascinating to us, and gives us some mental breathing room from the work of focusing on our many daily tasks.

Dr. Frances Kuo and her colleagues at the Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, have taken the idea of attention restoration and applied it to children with attention deficit disorders. Coping with ADD: The Surprising Connection to Green Play Settings, an early correlational study by Andrea Faber Taylor, Kuo, and William Sullivan, shows that children with attention deficit disorders have improved behaviors and attitudes after spending time in a "green" environment.

While this study was based on parents' subjective assessments of their AD/HD children's responses to spending time outdoors (compared to spending time doing other things like watching television or playing indoors), Kuo, Taylor and Sullivan think they're on to something.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says that four to 12 percent of children today are diagnosed with an attention disorder. "Green" time may provide an alternative to medicating children with drugs with serious side effects and questionable efficacy — a blessing for the child and the child's family.

One thing Taylor, Kuo and Sullivan didn't consider in this study was how nature might also affect parents' perceptions, behaviors and attitudes toward their children (extensive work on the effects of nature on adults has been done, but not in this regard). We could presume that spending time outdoors would improve parents' behaviors — maybe even parents' perceptions of their children's behaviors. Regardless, the outcome of spending time outdoors means that everyone benefits.

Got Green?

That's where parks and recreation come in. Public open spaces do more than protect the environment. They protect our sanity. And our children's sanity. They protect the public health. In fact, the scientific community is discovering that the entire environment — the built and the natural environments and the interface between the two — is a matter of public health. No green means increased fatigue and irritability, which increases (significantly) the likelihood of aggression and violence in virtually everyone, regardless of age, economic status or health. And no green means poorer physical health, too, due to the effects of stress and lack of exercise. More green, though — even through a window — means clearer thinking, better relationships, happier children, better attitudes and lower crime rates.

Katie Hogan, executive director of the Heart of Illinois Special Recreation Association in Peoria points out that, historically, children with developmental disabilities were usually kept inside. Changes in treatment paradigms have, fortunately, resulted in deliberately incorporating the outdoors into the lives of children with developmental and behavioral disabilities. Today, Hogan says, children with disabilities and behavior disorders spend part of their day outside because "spending time in the sunshine and fresh air puts everyone in a good mood. Kids feel better about themselves after playing in the park." Particularly for children with behavior disorders that cause an inability to interact with other people, spending time outdoors is vital to improving the condition: if a child feels better about herself, she'll feel better about other people, too, and will be able to interact in more positive ways.

Another, and perhaps more profound, benefit for children with behavior and developmental disabilities is the experience of spending time outdoors. The experiences of feeling the bark on a tree or smelling the sunshine or getting wet in the rain reminds us of our connection to nature in a real and tactile way, not just in an intellectual understanding of the

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environment and its workings. Thus, the Heart of Illinois SRA incorporates "calendar time" every day. During calendar time, Hogan says, the kids learn the day of the week, the month and the year, and they discuss the weather. And then they all go outside to experience the weather. Children with disabilities can see not only weather changes and seasonal changes, they can experience those changes in a direct, safe and positive way.

As a professional with a background in psychology and social work, Katie Hogan's experience is not unusual. She and her staff incorporate outdoor time not because of the research or training the universities and research institutes have done. In fact, much of the research is unknown to them. They incorporate outdoor time because their experience shows that children's behaviors improve and because Hogan and her staff sense that spending time outdoors is an important part of being human. "As much as we're all different from each other, we're also all the same. Spending time in the sunshine and fresh air is good for us."

The recognition that the environment plays a role in our well being not only affects park programming, it is beginning to find an influence in the design of recreational spaces. Landscape designers, interior designers and architects all have an impact on our surroundings and thus all have an impact on how we feel in those surroundings. From Feng Shui to the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program, creating more opportunities for exposure to and preservation of the natural world has become an increasing client demand.

LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) carries some weight as local and state governments attempt to build with environmental sensitivity and as the general population becomes increasingly versed in environmental issues, particularly surrounding the use of noxious materials in new home construction. By accomplishing a certification in LEED, an architect or contractor is trained and educated according to the USGBC's requirements and is thus qualified to build projects that can also earn LEED certification, provided the qualified architect uses environmentally sound materials and processes and incorporates acceptable features to minimize negative impacts to the environment caused by construction. To earn LEED certification, a project must be built by qualified people and meet the stringent environmental criteria.

For example, in July the Lake County Forest Preserve District began construction on a visitors center at, Ryerson Woods using environmentally friendly materials. They think that this new visitors center and the rehabilitated museum will better serve the public by improving access to and use of the buildings and grounds while also protecting the site's natural and historic resources. The new building was designed keeping employee and visitor health in mind and is expected to receive LEED certification because of the plans to use "green" materials and techniques. Among many other beneficial and innovative features, native plants and rain gardens will surround the building and parking lots (made of permeable asphalt to minimize runoff during a storm).

The views from the windows — all of the windows — if one can imagine it, will be spectacular and provide a bit of respite for both visitors and employees. Not only will the public enjoy the new visitors center, the employees will feel better working there. Bonnie Thomson Carter, president of the Lake County Forest Preserves, says, "We also hope that it will serve as a model for how future public, private and commercial buildings in Lake County can be more energy efficient and cause less environmental impact."

Park Wisdom

LEED certification is more than bureaucratic hoop jumping in the name of environmentalism. The LEED program was inspired by environmental stewardship and the idea that the built environment should protect and enhance the natural environment. A perhaps unrecognized benefit of such programs is that green design also works to ensure what Kuo and her colleagues have shown in their studies (and what parks and recreation professionals seem to know even without the scientific "proof"): contact with nature improves our quality of life, gives us the rest we need from our daily tasks and really gives us the tools we need to manage our fatigue and irritability, our dis-eases and our troubles.

Although Taylor and Kuo assert in their initial study that the surroundings that benefit children with attention deficit disorders are literally "green," (that is, their study was limited to participants in the Midwest during the late summer/early fall), their new national

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study suggests that all natural environments — summer or winter, desert or forest — can benefit children. This latest web-based study of over 500 parents with children with AD/HD identified that outdoor activities in natural settings with no more than one other person were the best types of activities for mitigating the severity of AD/HD symptoms.

So now we know. Playing outside at the local park any time of year in any town will improve a body's health, as well as a mind's ability to manage emotions, stress and fatigue. Time spent in green spaces buoys the spirit's outlook on life. But then, park and recreation professionals have known that for a long time.

Amy Karhliker is on editorial intern at the Illinois Association of Park Districts

Your Link to the Research The Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has several areas on its web site linking to their own research as well as other resources. U of I Human-Environment Research Lab Go to www.herl.uiuc.edu for the Human-Environment Research Lab's home page. Click on "Scientific Articles," fill out the secure survey and click on the articles you'd like to read. The University of Illinois' Human-Environment Research Laboratory is on the cutting edge of determining the effects of nature on human behavior. Coping with AD/HD Try www.herl.uiuc.edu/top10.html for a summary of the preliminary results of a national study on coping with AD/HD. Behold the Power of Trees Tina Prow's article "The Power of Trees" explores the relationship between green space and health. Read it at www.herl.uiuc.edu/medio.htm. The University of Michigan also has outstanding researchers working on human-environment issues: Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning Click www.tcaup.umich.edu/workfolio to link to research being done by the University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Once on the Workfolio page, click on "Research" on the left-hand side of the page. Then click on "Twenty-Three Design Guidelines for Greenways." This study considers distance to, features of and human needs met by various types of greenwoy trails in various cities across the country. Michigan Environmental Psychology Lab Head over to www.snre.umich.edu/eplab/research.html, the University of Michigan's Environmental Psychology Lab's web site's "Research" link, for additional information on the human-environment relationship. Green Design Last but not least, www.edra.org is the URL for the Environmental Design Research Association's web site, which provides access to information on a variety of human-environment publications, conferences and resources.

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