Your Brain on Nature

Participants relax on our Ancient Pathways adventure summer camp 2010, rafting past “Tiger Wall” on the upper stretch of the San Juan River.

This is a guest post by Deer Hill Program Leader, Lexi Tuddenham.

When we arrive with our students at Deer Hill Basecamp, we pause for a moment at the end of the driveway, next to the swinging wooden sign, and explain that we will be turning off the radio here, and that it’s time for them to turn off their ipods and power down their cell phones, both of which will shortly be collected and put in a locker for safe-keeping until the end of their trip. Inevitably, the protests rise from the back of the van—surprise and disbelief on the faces of kids with one earplug still in and two thumbs mid-text. We listen implacably, and patiently explain why: It’s not that there is no music here, or no technology—there will be singing in the sweatlodge , guitars on the palapa, even CDs in the backcountry pantry. But at that moment, with the dirt road winding up and around the corner toward Flint Rock, we want them to focus on what’s around them.

The point is not just to cut them off from the outside world “for the sake of it”, but to allow them to be open and present. To listen to us, to each other, and to themselves. To notice, as we roll up the driveway, the bindweed creeping between the tire tracks, the tick-tick of water spraying on a neighboring alfalfa field, kestrels diving into the high grass, deer sneaking up on the vegetable garden, and Jake the horse standing next to the fence to greet new students with a disdainful “whuff.” To enjoy the sun on their faces, to scream at the cold when they jump into the light-filtered depths of the pond. To begin to form friendships that may last for years.

It’s the start of an experience, a leveling of the ground they stand on, and the opportunity to let the struggles they may be having in their outside lives lie dormant for a few weeks. Unplugging from their digital devices enables them to engage fully in the reality of a Deer Hill trip, to get the most they can from it. According to this New York Times article, however, there may be benefits even beyond the improved focus we are immediately aware of in our students.

The piece tells the story of a group of scientists who take a trip down the San Juan River in Utah, to investigate the effect of wilderness on the brain, specifically, the impact of eliminating the all-pervasive media and communications technology that makes such insistent demands on our powers of attention. David Strayer, a psychologist from the University of Utah, organized the trip, and invited  a number of other scientists from around the country to take part, to see how others from different disciplines would interpret and critique his thesis: “that heavy technology use can inhibit deep thought and cause anxiety, and that getting out into nature can help.”

Mr. Strayer argues that nature can refresh the brain, and describes the tuning in that occurs as we tune out the background noise of urban life: “Our senses change. They kind of recalibrate — you notice sounds, like these crickets chirping; you hear the river, the sounds, the smells, you become more connected to the physical environment, the earth, rather than the artificial environment.”

I can speak to the powerful calming and focusing effects of “switching off”, whether on the river, in the desert, or the mountains. This is why our adventure summer camps, and our class trips, are designed to provide true experiences of immersion in the wilderness, because the benefits of unplugging from our various devices increase exponentially the more time we spend with nature.

Read the original article, which contains photos and video of the beautiful San Juan River, by clicking on this link:

“Studying The Brain off the Grid” by Matt Richtel