In a world where we are constantly using hand sanitizer, I’m talking about why dirt is good for kids and why you should be letting your kids get dirty often.
Right now, we live in a world where antibacterial soap, spray and cleaning wipes have become a mainstay. There are more disinfecting cleaning products on store shelves than ever before. We are trying to create sterile environments in hopes that that will protect our kids and our families from getting sick. Add to that all the antibiotics that are being prescribed on a daily basis, and it’s no wonder kids are sick more now than they ever have been in our history. And rates of allergies, autoimmune problems and gut-related disorders are on the rise in children. There are many causes to this, but one of them is the ultra-clean environments many of us are living in.
Why? Because we aren’t letting our kids get dirty!
It’s been said by some researchers that up to 90 percent of all diseases can be traced in some way back to the gut and health of the microbiome. What are microbiome you may ask? They are an internal ecosystem of bacteria located within our bodies. The vast majority live in our digestive systems. I could write an entire post on microbiome alone and their importance in our lives and how to support them. But to try to keep it simple, just know that our individual microbiomes are sometimes called our “genetic footprints” since they help determine our unique DNA, predisposition to diseases, body type, and much more. The bacteria that make up our microbiomes can be found everywhere, even outside our own bodies, on nearly every surface we touch and every part of the environment we come into contact with. So yeah, microbiome are pretty dang important.
What’s happening nowadays, though, is all this anti-bacterial everything is killing off all the good bacteria in our bodies (the number of bacteria in the human body is estimated between 10-100 trillion. There are more bacteria cells than human cells in our bodies. Fascinating, right?!).
With widespread use of disinfecting and antibacterial products, the formation of healthy gut bacteria is being prevented. Restoring good gut bacteria could be key to boosting immune function, reducing allergies and more!
Some research says that widespread use of disinfecting and antibacterial products (and removal/avoidance of dirt) is preventing proper formation of healthy gut bacteria and that restoring this beneficial bacteria could be the key to boosting immune function, reducing rates of allergies and even improving our moods!
One way to get good bacteria is from probiotic rich foods and supplements. Another way is through soil-based organisms, which have stronger strains of beneficial bacteria that can survive through the digestive system and provide better benefits to the human body (which some foods and supplements cannot do).
Why Dirt is Good for Kids
So what does all of this mean for our kids? It means that all of our cleaning, disinfecting and sterilizing could be doing more harm than good at times. Humans have started to develop antibiotic resistance due to over exposure to antibiotics and antibacterial products. Antibiotic resistant bacteria become harder to treat and the World Health Organization is calling it “a threat to global health security.” (source)
One leading researcher, Dr. Joel V. Weinstock, the director of gastroenterology and hepatology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, said in an interview that the immune system at birth “is like an un-programmed computer. It needs instruction.” He also said that, “Children raised in an ultra clean environment are not being exposed to organisms that help them develop appropriate immune regulatory circuits.” (source)
This would explain babies’ desire to play in the dirt and put dirty objects in their mouths.
With all that said, here are a few more reasons why dirt is good for kids.
It boosts their immune system
This doesn’t just go for kids. Playing in the dirt can help strengthen young immune systems.
Mary Ruebush, microbiology and immunology educator, explains:
“What a child is doing when he puts things in his mouth is allowing his immune response to explore his environment. Not only does this allow for ‘practice’ of immune responses, which will be necessary for protection, but it also plays a critical role in teaching the immature immune response what is best ignored.”
Kids exposed to dirt at a young age have a better chance of better immunity to fit off sickness.
It may lessen their chance of developing allergies
I mentioned this above, but allergies among children are on the rise. Exposing them to allergens in their environment can allow the body to become accustomed to them, thus lowering their chance of getting allergies.
A study conducted in 2015 found that children raised on farms suffer from less instances of allergies and autoimmune conditions than children not raised on farms. (source) All that dirt exposure working it’s magic!
It helps them practice grounding
Grounding or “earthing,” as it is sometimes called, is simply having our bare feet in contact with the earth. The Earth is full of natural energy, and being in direct contact with that energy can restore and stabilize the bio-electrical circuitry that governs your physiology and organs, harmonize your basic biological rhythms, boost self-healing mechanisms, reduce inflammation and pain, and improve your sleep and feeling of calmness. (source)
It helps relieve stress
When children are allowed free playtime outside, it can greatly help to relieve stress and anxiety. Kids experience stress just like adults do; with everything from school to social issues, stress-relieving playtime is critical for stress relief.
They’ll be happier!
Kids who are allowed to play outside are not only happier, studies show they are also smarter, more attentive, and less anxious than kids who spend more time indoors. (source)
So go ahead, let your kids get dirty! Let them crawl on the ground and walk around barefoot. Make the a dirt pile with clean, uncontaminated dirt and let them play. Let them help with gardening and yard work. And don’t wash their hands immediately when they come inside.
Let them eat with their dirty hands. It will allow those soil-based organisms to enter their digestive system. Take them to the woods! Forests have the best microbiome available to us! Breathe the air in, let the kids take their shoes off and soak it all in. There’s no reason to be afraid of getting dirty. It’s one of the best things we can do for our bodies.