National Tree Day + 10 Reasons The Bush Is Good For Your Health
I’ve been looking forward to sharing with readers a lovely experience I had earlier this year thanks to Planet Ark and Toyota Australia.
It was the celebration of School Tree Day, which is held the Friday before National Tree Day. Myself and some other lovely bloggers joined a Year 2 class at a Sydney primary school to plant trees in the school ground. And a bunch of favourite celebrities got their hands mucky too.
I met my own and my kids’ hero, Glenn McGrath! Loved the enthusiasm of Kerri-Ann Kennerley, Magdalena Rose and of course the magnificent Costa.
It was 100% delightful to see a bunch of young children plant their trees, so enthusiastic and full of life.
National Tree Day – Did You Know?
- It’s Australia’s largest community tree planting event.
- This year 200,000 people were involved over 3,000 sites.
- Over 20 million trees have been planted over the 15 years National Tree Day has been running.
- The larger campaign runs all year, encouraging Australians to be more environmentally aware and to reap the health benefits of spending time in nature.
It’s organised by Planet Ark, and sponsored by Toyota.
The tree men were hilarious too, check out their funny antics in this video below, featuring a wee quote from yours truly.
Toyota is my fave car company of the moment because I’m the recent purchaser of a tiny brand new Toyota Yaris. It’s a cute little car, has a reverse camera and is so easy to park.
I love my little motor car and buzz around in it joyfully!! My oldest son is learning to drive (very slowly) in the wee Yaris too..
But I digress, back to the trees. Now I don’t need to read a million scientific reports to know that being outside amongst nature is good for my own and my family’s mental and physical health… I just need to go for a bush walk and see how much better we all feel.
But in fact, there is a lot of research these days on nature and we human beings and some of it is really fascinating. Listen up, especially if you have kids with ADHD or ASD.
Ten Reasons The Bush Is Good For Your Health
1. Eyesight: outdoor play can influence eyesight; high levels of time outside is associated with reduced levels of short sightedness.
2. Development: natural environments, like playing in the bush, provide great variety of sights, sounds, smells and textures, all stimulating in themselves and good for kids’ development.
3, Physical development: the variety and the diversity of the bush means that children have to use more balance and body coordination, things are not stable and predictable, they need to use their bodies and brains more than they do in constructed environments.
4. Health: sunshine promotes synthesis of Vitamin D, needed for strong bones and muscles and for general health.
5. Stress: stress levels are reduced in children who live close to nature, and the effect is stronger as the level of stress increases. Children who go to schools which have more natural surrounds eg a wooded play area also show lower levels of stress.
6. Play: play in nature, particularly in wild nature, promotes more creative, social and imaginative play amongst children.
7. Cognition: living in a house beside a natural area has been shown to improve cognitive function in children.
8. ADHD: the greener a child’s play area, the less his or her symptoms of ADHD. Children concentrate better after a 20-minute walk in nature than a 20-minute walk in an urban setting.
9. Obesity: a US study found children living in greener envonments have lower BMI scores than children in less green spaces. In a Melbourne study, Children who spent more time outdoors have lower BMI than children who spend less time outdoors.
10. Empathy: direct interaction with nature promotes empathy in children, and children who experience wild nature eg through hiking and camping, tend to have more care for the environment throughout life.
Duh! We knew all that!!
But it’s always good to find that scientific studies support what we parents have seen for ourselves.
I know my children have all been delighted to run wild with nothing but sticks, bushes, trees and earth to play with. Lots of mud has been made, no eyes have been poked out (as yet) and no bones have been broken.
I want them to know the freedom of running wild, and they do… not nearly as much as I’d like really, but there’s been lots of fresh air in their lives and lots of nature. Long may that last.
And being honest, they also spend loads and loads of time in front of screens and so do I. And it’s much harder to get the teenagers out and about; I do wish they were surfers.
Have you tried an electric car?
Have you climbed a tree recently?
Shall we head out to the bush together and start now?
Cheers
National Tree Day is organised by Planet Ark and supported by Toyota. Thanks to both organisations for their environmental work and for inviting this blog to participate in this campaign.
National Tree Day is the last Sunday each July, you can register an event or join a planned event, find them on the website below. School Trees Day is the Friday prior, many school plant trees within their school grounds – great idea!
Find more about National Tree Day on their website here. Start thinking about the next one!
National Tree Day Facebook page here.