CHAMPAIGN, Ill., Sept. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder who routinely spend time outside with trees and grass exhibit milder symptoms, researchers say.
Study authors Andrea Faber Taylor, a visiting crop sciences teaching associate at the University of Illinois, and Frances (Ming) Kuo, a natural resources and environmental sciences professor at the school, said the study involved 400 children with ADHD. Symptoms of ADHD include severe difficulty concentrating, hyperactivity and poor impulse control.
"Before the current study, we were confident that acute exposures to nature -- sort of one-time doses -- have short-term impacts on ADHD symptoms," Kuo said in a statement.
"The question is, if you're getting chronic exposure, but it's the same old stuff because it's in your back yard or it's the playground at your school, then does that help?"
The study, published in the journal Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, found children with ADHD who regularly played in outdoor settings with lots of green -- grass and trees, for example -- have milder ADHD symptoms than those who play indoors or in built outdoor environments.
"On the whole, the green settings were related to milder overall symptoms than either the 'built outdoors' or 'indoors' settings," Taylor added.
The researchers also found that children who were high in hyperactivity -- rather than ADD -- tended to have milder symptoms if they regularly played in a green and open environment such as a soccer field or expansive lawn rather than in a green space with lots of trees or an indoor or built outdoor setting.
