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Talk to any teacher, parent, or employer about young adults and children today, and they will almost all say that they have an issue with a very short attention span. If we are being honest, even many older adults who are constantly on social media have the same issue.
Having a limited attention span can make many things in life much more difficult.
For example, while in school, you need to be able to learn about complex topics, which can require you to focus on them for hours, not seconds. Also, when it is time for exams, most people need to be able to study uninterrupted in order to do their best. At work, being able to focus on a project will allow you to complete it much faster and more accurately.
Even when it comes to leisure, being able to relax and focus on a book is widely seen to be healthier and more beneficial than just flipping through dozens of 30-second videos.
Almost everyone agrees that the Internet, smartphones, and short-form content can erode away people’s ability to focus for extended periods of time. To combat this for future generations, a growing number of parents are limiting screen time for their kids.
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While this is a great step, it does nothing to fix the issue for those who are already struggling with it. Fortunately, according to a New York Times report, fixing the issue might be a lot easier than most people would expect. Gloria Mark is a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, and she told the NYT:
“The evidence is accumulating that, yes, something about walking in nature is benefiting our attention.”
That’s right, simply getting out into nature seems to help to ‘reset’ people’s brains in a way that allows them to start focusing better and for longer. Even people who self-report as not enjoying nature experience the same benefits.
The concept of getting out into nature to clear your head or improve your mental health is nothing new. In 2008, an experiment was done where students were broken up into two groups. Everyone was given an attention and memory test to establish a baseline, then one group was sent to walk through the city, and the other group was sent to walk through an arboretum with lots of trees.
The results found that after walking through the wooded areas, their scores surged up by 20%. The experiment was repeated with the groups doing the opposite activity, and the results remained the same.
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It is not known why walking through nature has this effect. The experiment does show that it is not just the fact that you are getting outside, since the group walking through the city was also outside.
Psychologists and other researchers will undoubtedly want to look into why this seems to work so well, but for now, everyone can agree that the simple act of spending time out in nature can dramatically improve your ability to concentrate and remember things. To make it even better, the benefits are almost immediate, and you do not need to spend days in the woods to get them.
Simply going for a short walk through the woods or in other natural environments could have a direct and noticeable benefit.
If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about 50 amazing finds on Google Earth.
Categories: SCI/TECH
Tags: · learning, nature, paying attention, remembering, science, short attention span, single topic, tiktok, top, touch grass, trees