The benefits of outdoor activities for young people

Outdoor activities can include walking, cycling, running, hiking, swimming, gardening, camping, playing sports, exploring parks, observing nature, travelling by bicycle, participating in outdoor school lessons, helping with environmental projects, or simply spending unstructured time outside with friends. These activities may seem very different from one another, yet they share an important characteristic: they move at least part of young people’s daily experience away from enclosed indoor spaces and into environments where the body, senses, attention, and social behaviour are used differently. …