Healthy Kids: “Green” Daycares Good for Immune Systems

It was proven in Finland that preschool kids who play in green and forestry spaces have their immune systems boosted, even after merely a month.

“This supports the assumption that contact with nature prevents disorders in the immune system, such as autoimmune diseases and allergies,” says environmental ecologist Aki Sinkkonen from the University of Helsinki. “It would be best if children could play in puddles and everyone could dig organic soil. We could take our children out to nature five times a week to have an impact on microbes.”

By playing in a green environment every day, children develop a healthier diversity of microbes in the guts and on the skin. In 28 days, the number of T-cells and other immune markers increased. Recent research shows, changes in environmental microbes have a positive impact on the immune system’s response. The microbe gammaproteobacterial appears to boost the skin’s and the blood’s immune defense.