One of the downsides of city living, for some people at least, is the din. Even a weekend in the countryside - with the dewy greens of a foggy morning, the oxygen-rich forest air and the music of resident birds - can spark a much-needed recharge.
Researchers have now further confirmed longstanding suspicions about the benefits of rural peace and calm and found evidence that even the sound of nature counters the stresses imposed by urban life.
In two tests involving more than 1,500 people using heart monitors, researchers at the University of Surrey found birdsong not only has a "psychological benefit," but that this positive effect can also be undermined by traffic noise, which increases stress.
Listening to what the team termed "natural soundscapes," including birds, led to "significantly lower heart rate variability" compared to traffic noise, which prompted a response akin to stress.
"Medium to high soundscape complexity and amplitude may be important drivers for people to perceive greater bird diversity, whilst minimising traffic noise is crucial to facilitate greater well-being benefits," the team said in a paper published by the journal People and Nature.
"People report feeling refreshed and having a renewed feeling of calmness after exposure to natural environments," said Melissa Marselle.
In February, researchers at McGill University in Canada and Adolfo Ibáñez University in Chile published data they said "add neuroscientific weight" to the intuitive feeling that people benefit emotionally from nature exposure.
Not everyone can afford to spend a few days in the countryside, however, meaning urban planners and city officials should do more to ensure parks offer some respite, the Surrey researchers suggested.
"Minimising traffic noise through the reduction of speed limits in streets close to parks or increasing the density of ground-level vegetation around park boundaries could be ways to do this," said Eleanor Ratcliffe, associate professor in environmental psychology. – dpa
