Exercise, Nature and Health Beth is Group Wellbeing Director at Cognita, the global schools group, and an experienced media commentator on young people’s wellbeing. In this article she explores the importance of balancing digital devices and the outdoors.
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here is an obvious consensus among educators and parents alike about the importance of a wellrounded education, but there is also a shared worry about the declining mental health of our children. Schools have responded by providing specialist training for teachers about how to recognise and support children who might be suffering from mental health conditions, while continuing to provide the best possible education for their students. However, when one considers how fundamental physical activity is to both academic success and good mental health, it seems reasonable to question if its status reflects its importance. We know that exercise plays a crucial role in brain development, creating a favourable physiological environment for adaptive neuroplasticity. It also impacts brain functioning - improving cognitive performance and mood. “Natural outdoor environments can offer a very special kind of learning experience: the opportunity for discovery and learning through touching and feeling, the chance to explore and take risks, the stimulations of the fresh air and limitless skies.” - Sir David Attenborough Despite this, over 70% of young people in the UK do not undertake an hour of exercise a day, and it is a concern that childhood obesity remains on the rise both in the UK and globally. One hypothesis for this is that children today lead a far more sedentary lifestyle, fuelled by technology in its many forms, something that the following fact reported by The Child Mind Institute, is testament to :‘The average American child spends about 4 to 7 minutes a day playing outside and over 7 hours a day in front of a screen!’ However, although such data is alarming, the relationship between technology and levels of physical activity is not well understood, with much of the research highlighting correlations rather than causations.
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Joe Wicks, the Body Coach, recently brought this complicated relationship to life when he wrote this post: ‘I am addicted to my phone. I am unable to stay focused on a single task without getting distracted by my phone. My brain is constantly seeking some other form of distraction and stimulation and it’s 100 per cent of the time coming from me picking up my phone”. Evidently, you can be very physically active - and addicted to your phone! Cognita has recently been talking with Tanya Goodin to better understand the relationship between technology and wellbeing. Tanya is a trailblazing author, pioneering thinker and campaigner on digital wellbeing and technology ethics and founder of the digital detox movement Time to Log Off. She is an expert in the field of tech-life balance and a regular media commentator, helping a global audience forge a healthier, happier relationship with digital devices. Her recent article titled ‘Do parents need to let their children go outside more?’ highlighted how much less freedom this generation of children have to go outside and she gives some expert tips on redressing the balance in the excerpt overleaf: