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On average, Americans spend
about 10 hours a day in front of a computer or other electronic devices and
less than 30 minutes a day outdoors. That is a claim made by David Strayer, a
professor of psychology at the University of Utah. In his 2017 TED Talk,
Strayer explained that all this time spent with technology is making our brains
tired.
Using an electronic device to
answer emails, listen to the news and look at Facebook puts a lot of pressure
on the front of the brain, which, Strayer explains, is important for critical
thinking, problemsolving and decisionmaking.
So, it is important to give the
brain a rest. And being in nature, Strayer claims, helps get a tired brain away
from too much technology. More than 15,000 campers from around the world
attended an international camping festival in September. That is when friends
and family take time off and escape to nature for several days. They take
walks, climb, explore, swim, sleep, eat and play. Camping may be just what a
tired brain needs.
Take Carl for example. He lives
in West Virginia and enjoys camping. He says that staying outdoors makes him
feel at ease. It also prepares him for the work he must do. Kate Somers is
another example who also lives in West Virginia. She says she enjoys camping with
her husband and two children. She calls it a "regenerative"
experience.
At the University of Utah,
David Strayer has studied both shortterm and longterm exposure to nature. He found that spending short amounts of
time in nature without technology does calm the brain and helps it to remember
better. However ,he found, it is the longterm contact
with nature that does the most good. He and his research team found that
spending three days in nature without any technology is enough time for the
brain to fully relax and reset itself.
