Appreciate the splendor of nature. This is what Thoreau would have us do. Look up and around, he would tell us, look to the west, to the wild, to the hills to the fields.
Studies by professors Rachel and Stephen Kaplan of the University of Michigan support his philosophy, telling us that all it takes is twenty minutes in the outdoors to benefit from an increased vitality. What’s more, researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign assessed the effects of common after-school and weekend activities on ADHD symptoms and concluded that green therapy—exposure to natural settings—appears to help reduce symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Find a greener route to and from school, ideally a walk down tree-lined streets or through a park, they suggest. For play, look for green yards and ball fields, and while doing schoolwork indoors, sit near a window that offers at least a partial nature view.
Frankly, it would do us all some good!
