Spring is spreading across the mountains (I don’t care what that fuzzy rodent in Pennsylvania claims)! Bringing with it earlier sunrises, later sunsets, and a tantalizing promise of warm and comfortable outdoor weather.
This is a relief to me, as I’m sure it will be a relief to a lot of you as well. There’s something about the end of winter that really sets off how low everything can get through the cold season. Long nights, cold days, looking at walls, screens, fluorescents all day. Every. Single. Day. I am an outdoor person by nature, and being cooped up and losing so much daylight really does a number on me. I rejoice with spring weather, because it really knocks away those winter blues.
Getting outside is not just a trick to cure the winter blues though. Did you know, continual outside activity can actually lift you out of your doldrums no matter the season? You might have heard that mental health improves with time outdoors, playing in dirt, soaking up the Vitamin D, “touching grass” as the youth say. What you may not have realized is research published last year suggests that it’s not just “getting outside”. It’s getting outside often and with intention (1). Now, intention can look different for different people. Maybe it’s gardening, going for a run, playing catch, hiking, maybe it’s as simple as finding a nice patch of grass or a comfortable chair and just… sitting for a while. Maybe it’s picking flowers, or imaginative play (art, independent play, playing make-believe).
No matter the method, getting outside has numerous benefits. Especially for kids, especially in a post COVID-19 world. With so much moving onto technology nowadays there is less time for outdoor activities. Less space for it. But the more young people get outside, the more they build strong bodies, strong connections, and lessen the impact of our technology driven world on their mental health (2, 3). The younger kids get outside, the longer they spend outside, the more they have fun outside, the more their physical and overall health is improved (3).
So, as we transition into spring at long last, I–your local 4-H/ Youth Development Agent–encourage you to get outside. To get the whole family outside! Often, on purpose, and just have some fun! Who knows, you might even notice an extra silver lining or two.
