The benefits of a green playground for students
Between so many hours of class in the children there is a moment that is desired by the students: playtime. This time to recover strength, play with friends and enjoy a break before facing the last leg of the day. A space where they socialize, enjoy and that can bring great benefits according to the elements that compose it.
From the American Academy of Pediatrics It indicates the benefits for the smallest of the house a green yard in which to enjoy the time of recreation on the part of the students. Gardens, small gardens and outdoor activities are some of the suggestions that are made to schools so they can improve the day to day in the school that children attend.
Less stress and more attention
This American organization has made this report based on the data that has contributed different schools. This information dealt with the type of school playground and the state of the students: cardiac health, level of stress, obesity, presence or not of deficiencies in the attention.
Those school yards that had elements such as green spaces with vegetation, orchards or that bet on classes at fresh air They had children with a lower level of stress than the average. At the same time, these centers had a reduced level of obese children and a higher level of attention by the students who attended these centers.
The researchers point out that, for example, the fact of seeing a green space is in itself a less stressful element than seeing long cement sports tracks. "Many children lack quality school areas, and in many neighborhoods, the standard space where they play is a sterile asphalt park or a piece of concrete fenced with a metal fence, a completely unsuitable environment for children to play," explains the doctor. Stephen Pont, one of the authors of this study.
Benefits of the green space
This report is not the first work that focuses on the benefits of green space for children. Another study of Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology, in Barcelona, highlights that in those schools with more areas with vegetation 10% less attention problems are detected. Data that reveal the benefits of natural spaces in children.
This study that was published in the magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ensures that the influence of nature on cognitive abilities is explained through the reduction of air pollution. Something that directly affects the maturation of the brain in the absence of elements such as black carbon.
Something on which the investigation of the University of California where it is also pointed out that green areas also influence children's behaviors: they help them to share more. Be that as it may, there is no doubt that parks can help society in many ways: from reducing cardiovascular mortality to improving mental health or reducing stress, passing, of course, through the observed improvement in the intellect of children.
Damián Montero
