Playing outside is good for kids? REALLY? It took a study to come up with this? At the end of the day a kid should be dirty, exhausted, and ravenous. Give the kid a bath and a good supper and he or she will go right to sleep at bedtime. And you'll have a happy kid.

Yep, good ole' sunshine, fresh air, the smell of fresh cut green grass.....worked just fine for me. I'm old school - give the ADHDs some good ole' fashion chores - cutting grass, edging the lawn, taking the garbage out, washing the cars, weeding the gardens - Hint - It make the ADHDs sleep better at night, too! But, alas, now a days you might be charged with Child Abuse - just kidding! {:-)}

Weird, they said more open fields and not so much in tree filled areas. This all sounds like one of those Victorian things like measuring the skull to find out of the person is smart or has a criminal mind. Who pays for these weird studies. Open spaces and playing outside is good for all kids, Aaaaaaa Duh!

I call hogwash. I was diagnosed with the worst case of AHDD possible, and I played outside, rode bikes, played soccer, all sorts of outside activities. Playing outside does not help you concentrate on other activities.

I cannot (well, yeh, I can) believe a ton of time and money was spent on something my Grandparents already knew!!! Turn off the TV, ditch the video games, GO OUTSIDE and PLAY. Has nothing to do with GREEN - I grew up in a city,(Brooklyn) and still went outside. We moved "out to the Island" and had a backyard - and went outside, and walked to school: there's a novel idea - go outside for recess, or actually do something physical in gym class. I agree with Greg 2009; chores do wonders ......in more ways than just making a kid tired.

DUUUUHHH! Who'da thunk it? Get up, away from the TV and video game, go outside and run around? Sounds like some radical kind of therapy there. Now, where do I go to apply for a few million in research money - I want to establish whether a swift swat on the pants does more good than a "time out". Any takers? Or was grandpa and grandma all the way back to Adam just a bunch of sadists?

Yep, that's really insightful!! Just ask any of us over age 50 how we grew up! Black and white TV with 3 channels. You went outside and played!! In the summer, after you did your chores (gasp!!) you played until dark...sometimes later if there was a street light!! I just love the NFL commercial about playing that encourages people to go to a website for more play ideas!! PLAY IDEAS??? It's a sad day when you need the internet to find out how to play!!

And then there's Michael Phelps. Maybe the green of the pool chlorine was what helped him.

I can't even believe there was a study done on this. People have known that children behave better if they can play outside for hundreds of years. No genius required to figure this out! Only about 5% of children on medication actually have ADHD - why? because THEY NEVER GO OUTSIDE and just play!

I can't even believe a study was done for this! People have known that children behave better when they go outside and play(or work, heaven forbid) for hundreds of years. Doesn't matter if it's a "green space" or not. Only about 5% of children on medication actually have ADHD - why? because THEY NEVER GO OUTSIDE and just play. Even the schools don't allow this anymore. Ridiculous

Really???? They must be rocket scientists. Perhaps now that some so-called experts have verified what is common sense to any parent, they might want to inform our schools that recess is good - and, necessary - for our children. There is nothing worse than a group of children desperately in need of a good 20 minutes of play time. I recall when I was growing up that all the playgrounds had merry-go-rounds, metal slides and monkey bars. Remember how scary it was to go to the top of those bars? That's what our kids today are missing out on. There is nothing better for a child than to run and play. It's time to stop drugging out children for a diagnosis that was created to give our schools an excuse to create a sanctioned straightjacket for kids who just have a lot of energy to burn.

Maybe it's sunlight. Maybe it's the opportunity to view things from afar [the article says play in open space helps more than amidst trees. Lot more sunlight and "views" (our vision setting for infinity is around 30 ft. and on, I believe) in open spaces]. Maybe it's level of exercise (sustained increased heart rate when running around, which you can't do as much of in the other settings).

Generating the next question to ask is one of the functions of research.

Ya think????. We called it recess. Where kids could run of their excess energy, play with friends and learn to stand up to bullies.

Now they are expected to sit for an hour 6 periods a day, walk in a strait line, do not socialize and don't stand up for yourself with bullies.

No wonder the suicide rates soar. Thank you public education.

A lot of folks are scoffing this study as only producing what is parental common sense. But, I wonder why open spaces are better. Is the open space of a kid's baseball field during organized sports as effective as the kids just being out in the park playing catch? I ask because such organized sports have become a consuming fact of life for a huge number of families. Based on the writings of Richard Louv in Last Child in the Woods, I think that further research is necessary. Too many parents are unwittingly denying their children a healthier environment in which to grow and mature. It may be common sense, but it is not commonly applied.

--mark d.

Playing in the grass may ease ADHD

As we used to say when we were kids playing outside to an obvious observation:

"No sh!t, Sherlock!"

This is a reflection of how far we HAVEN'T traveled in the past 25 years.

ADD/ADHD cases are increased/worsened by exposure to chemicals, many of which are used regularly in all modern manufacturing processes. Exercise helps eliminate toxins as does avoiding them in the first place. Inside areas are filled with chemical pollutants and by-products. We haven't yet killed-off our outdoor spaces, so we can exercise longer and harder in our outside endeavors than inside, no matter what what the activity.

RE: Lack of ORIGINAL ADD/ADHD research ... WHY IS THIS? When I read a story as the one here I wonder why we are returning to paths already well-worn instead of following the old branches from where they were abandoned 30 years ago to where they will lead? Why is there little NEW RESEARCH in the fields of ADD/ADHD? Besides medicating kids with ADD so they can attend schools set up for teaching kids without ADD, what progress have we made towards utilizing this ADD-type thought process? Has anyone determined the ways ADD-thinking differs from non-ADD thinking?

Anyone know what happens to ADD kids once they graduate from high school? Who has seen studies done on adults with ADD/ADHD? Has the PDR added adult studies and manufacturer's recommended daily doses of ADD medications FOR ADULTS to their listed recommended daily dose schedules yet?

As for the links between chemical sensitivities and allergies and dyslexia (and other environmental illnesses), one now has to draw up one's own conclusions from old "Clinical Ecology" textbooks, most out of print since the 1950's. It seems the link between chemicals and environmental diseases was never "proved" sufficiently, even after the Gulf War Syndrome and the 911 first responders illnesses. All the pioneers in that field have died. No doubt we are still telling those stricken by these exposures that it's "all in their minds" and they are suffering from "depressive anxiety disorders".

That's still no reason to post such articles as if are newly discovered wonders of the world - it's old stuff and boring, and depressing to see how far we've already fallen and we still don't have a clue.