Neem Hakeem*: Playing outdoors will keep your kids from needing glasses – who knew?
[*Neem Hakeem is an occasional feature on health and the environment. See other Neem Hakeem posts and an explanation of the term here.]
Worshiping outdoors is easier than it is inside a building, and playing outdoors is good for your kids’ eyesight.
What in the world do these two things have to do with each other?
The statement on worship is an experience so common that it’s almost a truism. And there are some powerful reasons for this, rooted in how God created us, how he reveals himself to us in his created world (see, for example, Psalm 19, Romans 1). It’s a major reason one of my pet peeves is worship centers that have no windows – we’re trying to worship by cutting ourselves off from one of God’s chosen methods by which he reveals himself to us, which is something like trying to regain health with a diet that eschews all fruits and vegetables. [There's a lot more on this in my book - check it out!.]
However, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests that the connection between human beings and the outdoors – read, God’s Creation – is much more than how we worship. We’re hardwired both to function better and in fact to need time in God’s creation in order to be healthy and even happy. A must-read on this topic is Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods – every parent and anyone seeking to serve children in any capacity, from teachers to pediatricians to youth leaders should be required to read this book.
And – the main point of this post – the evidence continues to accumulate. NPR had a story yesterday on myopia – near-sightedness – , that included the following surprising comments on the work of expert Dr. Don Mutti:
For the past 20 years, Mutti has followed a group — from childhood to adulthood — to see who develops myopia. He found something significant: Time spent outdoors during childhood was important.
“If you have two nearsighted parents and you engage in a low level of outdoor activity, your chances of becoming myopic by the eighth grade are about 60 percent,” he says. “If children engaged in over 14 hours per week of outdoor activity, their chances of becoming nearsighted were now only about 20 percent. So it was quite a dramatic reduction in the risk of becoming myopic.”
The story goes on to eliminate reading or other close-up work and exercise as causes. The work is on-going, but it appears, again, that we – and importantly, our children – will be healthier, happier, and more in touch with God if we just spend time in his world.
So….
Go on – reach for the power button, turn off this computer, and get yourself outside! [I'll do the sam........]
Tags: nature, Neem Hakeem
God's Creation | Ed | 12 January 2010 |
