For Kids With ADHD, Regular 'Green Time' Is Linked to Milder Symptoms

ScienceDaily (Sep. 15, 2011) — "A study of more than 400 children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has found a link between the children's routine play settings and the severity of their symptoms, researchers report. Those who regularly play 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, the researchers found. The association holds even when the researchers controlled for income and other variables.The study appears in the journal Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 9.5 percent of children aged 4-17 had been diagnosed with ADHD as of 2007. Symptoms include severe difficulty concentrating, hyperactivity and poor impulse control.
Although many children with ADHD are medicated, most "would benefit from a low-cost, side-effect-free way of managing their symptoms," wrote University of Illinois crop sciences visiting teaching associate Andrea Faber Taylor and natural resources and environmental sciences professor Frances (Ming) Kuo, the authors of the study.
Previous research has shown that brief exposure to green outdoor spaces -- and in one study, to photos of green settings -- can improve concentration and impulse control in children and adults in the general population -- individuals without ADHD.
These findings led Taylor and Kuo to examine whether children diagnosed with ADHD, which is characterized by deficits in concentration and impulse control, might also benefit from "green time." In a study published in 2004, they analyzed data from a national Internet-based survey of parents of children formally diagnosed with ADHD and found that activities conducted in greener outdoor settings did correlate with milder symptoms immediately afterward, compared to activities in other settings."
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For disabled veterans, gardening is therapy

The State (June 25, 2011)-- Disabled veteran Mike Steward said he considered ending his life.

It was three years ago. He had health problems, his marriage was failing and he was stressed about money.

As Steward tells the story, he was in his Forest Acres backyard, and his tomato plant caught his eye. The plant was withered and dying — a symbol of his life, he thought.

“Then the rain came.”

And so flourished the idea to convert an unproductive plot of land at Fort Jackson into a gathering spot for disabled veterans who water and nurture, harvest and share.

Steward, 48, who has a spinal-cord injury, said gardening gives him a sense of accomplishment.

“Plus it’s very healthy,” he said. “I’ve lost a lot of weight, eating fruits and vegetables.”

The garden has five raised beds, built waist-high. It is crisscrossed by cement paths, wide enough for wheelchairs. And on scheduled work days, it hums with volunteers mowing, weeding and sweating. The garden has a hired hand, Larry McDuffie, but volunteers are critical to the project.

Steward said as many as 15 veterans share the space and the labor. It’s one of 38 fenced areas that make up Fort Jackson’s Victory Garden.

The entire area was given over to gardening about 40 years ago, manager Valerie Kinsley said. It looks to be about four acres, edged by a creek providing irrigation for the growing fruits and vegetables. Fences chart ownership and deter deer.

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