What is that bird? Smartphone applications such as Merlin Bird ID and BirdNet, both produced by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, can help identify the bird producing the song and visualize its spectrogram. “And with this little step, you can be one step closer to getting those beneficial effects or enhancing the time that you spend outdoors.” And that’s actually all that you need to do,” Stobbe said. When we go outside, it is easy to forget that birds are also there singing their hearts out if we don’t pay attention. Going out to see birds also tends to encourage more physical activity, which has its own panoply of mental health benefits, and exercising outdoors may, in turn, magnify the health benefits of exercise.

Viewing green scenery engages the posterior cingulate cortex, which is associated with behavioral stress responses and may help regulate the reduction in stress responses from nature exposure. an urban environment decreased self-reported rumination, which is linked to a risk of depression and other mental illnesses, and decreased activity in a part of the brain’s prefrontal cortex associated with rumination.

It is not yet understood how birdsong affects our brains, but neuroimaging studies have found brain responses of stress reduction to other forms of nature exposure. Previous research has found that time spent in green outdoor spaces can lower blood pressure and cortisol levels, Hammoud said. Nature - and birdsong - also reduce stress. Natural stimuli, such as birdsong, may allow us to engage in “ soft fascination,” which holds our attention but also allows it to replenish. One hypothesis on nature’s salubrious effects, known as the attention restoration theory, posits that being in nature is good for improving concentration and decreasing the mental fatigue associated with living in stressful urban environments. Previous research on the health effects of nature sounds found that they could even confer cognitive benefits, though the second study did not replicate that finding.Īdvertisement Why nature and birds may benefit usīirds help us feel more connected with nature and its health effects, Stobbe said, and the more connected we are to nature, the more we can benefit from those effects. The research shows the “healing aspects of nature, or also the not-so-positive effects of urban surroundings,” said Stobbe, an author of the second study. The ones you are seeing and hearing now are more likely to be encountered by our North American readers in their backyards.)īy contrast, listening to more or less diverse traffic noise worsened symptoms of depressive states. (This study was conducted in Europe, and the birds featured were also European. And those who listened to less diverse birdsongs (two bird species) also reported a significant decrease in feelings of anxiety and paranoia. Participants who listened to more diverse birdsongs (featuring the acoustic acrobatics of eight species) reported a decrease in depressive symptoms in addition to significant decreases in feelings of anxiety and paranoia. If a participant reported seeing or hearing birds at one point, their mental well-being was higher, on average, hours later even if they did not encounter birds at the next check-in. The benefits persisted well beyond the bird encounter. But the 26,856 assessments offered a rich data set of what is associated with mental well-being in real time in the real world.īy analyzing the data, the researchers found a significant positive association between seeing or hearing birds and improved mental well-being, even when accounting for other possible explanations such as education, occupation, or the presence of greenery and water, which have themselves been associated with positive mental health. The participants were not explicitly told that the researchers were looking at birds - the app was also collecting data about other vitals such as sleep quality, subjective assessment of air quality, and location details. In one study, researchers asked about 1,300 participants to collect information about their environment and well-being three times a day using a smartphone app called Urban Mind. Meadowlark Being around birds is associated with better mental healthĮveryday encounters with the bird kind are associated with better mental health.

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