Outside Health

Today’s children are less connected to the natural world than any previous generation. They are also more likely to struggle with aspects of physical, social, emotional, and cognitive growth and development. This should not come as a surprise. Being outdoors is a critically important part of children’s play and being connected to nature is essential for many aspects of learning, health, and well-being. Read More

Welcome back to Outside Health. The tagline for this blog is, “Exploring how play and connection to nature can make it easier for children to grow up healthy.” Before diving deeper into the specifics of play and nature I’d like to focus on where they overlap, which is the idea of movement.

Improving the quality and quantity of children’s early movements is one of the most important ways we can make life better for children and families. This is because of the power of everyday movements, particularly movements related to play that increase our connection with the natural world, to help build healthy resilient brains and bodies that are primed for lifelong learning, health, and well-being. Read More

Welcome to the Outside Health blog. I believe the key to making life better for all of us is to make it easier for children to grow up healthy. The name Outside Health has two different meanings. The first is how being outside and connecting with the natural world can enhance lifelong learning, health, and well-being. The second is the fact that many of the solutions to today’s great health challenges actually lie outside our traditional health care system. Both of these meanings will be explored in more detail below. Read More