BIRDS MAKE LIFE MORE BEAUTIFUL
BEAUTIFUL BIRD BRAINS
People are happier when they hang out with birds!
A new study finds that listening to birds actually lifts people’s spirits. And city dwellers that spend time near birds, in parks or near open windows on tree-lined streets, are more upbeat than those who are limited to concrete jungles.
Researchers at King’s College London developed a smartphone app called Urban Mind to monitor how a person’s exposure to birdsong, trees, and sky within cities affects their mental wellbeing. The researchers also tracked the users with GPS geotagging.
Findings indicated both immediate and time-lagged associations between natural areas and mental wellbeing. When study participants were near birds and natural environments, they usually experienced an upswing in general mental mood, usually lasting for several hours.
“These findings suggest that short-term exposure to nature has a measurable beneficial impact on mental wellbeing,” study co-author Dr. Andrea Mechelli, reported a press release.
Interestingly, the study also found that the beneficial effects of exposure to birdsong and nature increased for those at higher risk of mental illness.
“The interaction of this effect with trait impulsivity is intriguing, as it suggests that nature could be especially beneficial to those individuals who are at risk of poor mental health,” Mechelli points out. “From a clinical perspective, we hope this line of research will lead to the development of low-cost scalable interventions aimed at promoting mental health in urban populations.”
If cities invest in creating additional green spaces, where people can take a break during their work day, it could do a lot to increase health, wellbeing, and productivity.
The full study was published in the journal BioScience.
In another recent study, researchers from the University of Exeter, the British Trust for Ornithology, and the University of Queensland, reports similar findings -- that watching birds from your window can lower stress and relieve depression or anxiety.
Dr. Daniel Cox, the lead author of the study, explains in a university release, that “birds around the home, and nature in general, show great promise in preventative health care, making cities healthier happier places to live.”
Cox and team found that bird type was not relevant, but the number of birds people saw was. A more positive state of mental health was linked with areas containing higher concentrations of the birds.
This work was published in the journal of BioScience.
Sound and communication expert, Julian Treasure recommends carrying headphones with you to play soothing sounds like birdsong, which he claims, “boosts your productivity up to triple of what it would be.” Treasure recommends listening to birdsong at least five minutes a day.
There are a number of reasons birdsong is so effective at reducing stress and boosting happiness. Perhaps the most compelling is that our early ancestors learned that when birds are singing, all is right with the world, so they could relax.
“People find birdsong relaxing and reassuring because over thousands of years, they have learnt when the birds sing, they are safe; it's when birds stop singing that people need to worry,” says Treasure.
Read more about Beautiful Birds in Go to Bird Heaven: Kenya.
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