Let Your Kids Play in the Dirt More Often

Discover the surprising health benefits of playing in the dirt and why Let Your Kids Play in the Dirt. see how soil exposure can boost immunity, improve mental health, and enhance cognitive development.

Why should Let Your Kids Play in the Dirt

I wanna talk about why your kids need to be playing in the dirt more often , but not really the dirt , the actual soil .

Let’s talk about the difference between dirt and soil .

The difference between dirt and soil

Dirt basically is dead .

You have sand , rocks , and clay .

Soil is actually alive because it has microbial life .

It has bacteria , fungus , and the bacteria and the fungus make the nutrients available .

So I probably should have named it why your kids should be playing in the soil .

So here’s the reason .

Why playing in the soil is beneficial

You have 2 parts of your immune system .

You have the innate part , which you’re born with .

Your mother has given you this immunity from her being exposed to microbes and all those antibodies , but then you have this other part of your immune system called the acquired .

And this is the part of your immune system that it learns from being in your environment .

And so if your child gets sick , the best thing to do is to let them get sick and go through the infection and make sure they have all the key nutrients .

Allow the fever to be there to kill off the pathogen , and allow them to build up their antibodies .

That’s the best thing you can do as compared to shut off the immune system right away , suppress the fever .

Because what you’re gonna find out is they’re not gonna develop your immune system as well , and they probably are gonna get sick more often .

And when they’re sick , the duration of infection is gonna be longer .

The connection between the gut and the brain

Now there’s a huge connection between your brain and your gut .

And in your gut , you have all these microbes , which play a very important part in your immune system .

It’s the different microbes working together synergistically to help pathogens from invading into the body .

And so I wanna emphasize the importance of your child being outside than being inside .

Unfortunately , recently , many children , are spending way too much time inside .

They don’t get that exposure to the germs in the soil that can actually help greatly improve the immune system later in life .

Benefits of being in nature for children

There’s some interesting studies , I’m gonna put them down below , that demonstrates that if a child is outside more than inside , they have a decreased risk in asthma , allergies , and even autoimmune diseases , which is quite fascinating .

Children that are outside more in nature have much less inflammation and respiratory illnesses , have a much improved mental health status too , both in cognitive function as well as mood .

And so it’s not just about having your children play in the dirt or the soil .

It’s about having them outdoors , in the woods , in nature , on a farm .

In one study , it was interesting .

It showed that , children that are raised in a farm are actually much healthier than their city counterparts .

And there’s an additional study , which I’ll put down below , that shows there’s much less depression in children that are exposed more to nature , being exposed to environments that , involve trees , grass , parks , rivers , lakes , and even the ocean .

And then you have the topic of forest bathing , which I’ve done other topic on that supports the immune system .

Apparently , there’s a certain phytochemical that is released from a pine tree that can greatly support your immune system .

And there’s a link between an improved immune system as well as improved cognitive and mood function as well .

And one last study I wanna mention that was quite interesting .

There was even , an improvement in IQ , with children that spent more time outside in the environment with more space , more parks , more trees , more grass , versus children that were living in the cities where they didn’t have that much exposure to nature .

So anyway , I wanted to create this topic on the importance of getting your children outside the house , having them play in nature .

key points:

The difference between dirt and soil:

1. Dirt is dead. This could be sand, rock, or clay.
2. Soil is living. It contains bacteria and fungus, which make nutrients available.

• There are two parts of the immune system. There is the innate part, which you’re born with. Then there is the acquired part. The acquired part learns from the environment.
• If a child is sick, I believe the best thing is to let the child go through the infection while providing them with key nutrients and allow them to build up antibodies.
• There is a huge connection between the gut and the brain. There are a lot of microbes in the gut that play an important part in the immune system. The microbes work together to help keep pathogens from invading the body.

Potential benefits of children being outside more often than inside:

1. A decreased risk of asthma, allergies, and autoimmune issues
2. Less inflammation and respiratory illness
3. Improved mental health (both cognitive function and mood)

DATA:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5957494

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5292365

https://jech.bmj.com/content/72/10/958

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3166452

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/24/children-raised-greener-areas-higher-iq-study

https://jech.bmj.com/content/72/10/958

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