The benefits of natural sounds for health

The sweet melody of the birds, the flow of water through the river, the whistle of the spring wind... all of this It induces us to a feeling of relaxation, a scene in which stress and discomfort seem to go away.

Human beings have always found in nature an environment of calm and tranquility, being the sounds of it a very important element that contributes to entering a state of deep relaxation.

The benefits of natural sounds for health, in addition to being part of popular culture, have been approached from a more scientific perspective, and in this article we are going to talk about recent research that has shed some light on this question.

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The benefits of natural sounds for well-being and health

People are very varied in terms of musical tastes. There are those of us who like indie rock, others who are more into classical music and there are those who enjoy trap.

For tastes, colors and, of course, this also applies to musical genres. However, within so much sound diversity there is an acoustic repertoire in which we all seem to agree and that is the sounds that relax us.

If we ask several people what sound relaxes them, it is quite likely that most will tell us itself: the singing of birds, the sound of rain or the whistling of the wind and other natural sounds. On the other hand, if we asked what stresses them out, they would surely tell us sounds that are not so pleasant, such as the thunderous noise of a steamroller or cars honking down the street. highway. Why is it that the natural relaxes us and the anthropogenic stresses us?

The sounds of nature and the human being

Throughout history, human beings have attributed a relaxing component to the sounds of nature. The melodies of the birds in the field or the waves on the beach are auditory stimuli that almost naturally we attribute with relaxation and well-being, and very often we resort to them to keep our mind calm and even concentrate. Proof of this are the innumerable YouTube videos with ambient music composed of sounds such as rain, waves or the singing of birds.

The scientific approach to this issue is nothing new and, in fact, there have been several studies that have wanted to find the relationship and the possible benefits of natural sounds for health. If hundreds of people turn to natural sounds to find themselves better, it will be because they work in one way or another, but it had to be demonstrated and a logical explanation behind it had to be sought, something that a recent Article.

The article in question is that of the group of Rachel T. Buxton titled A synthesis of health benefits of natural sounds and their distribution in national parks (A synthesis of the health benefits of natural sounds and their distribution in national parks), published in the American journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which, in short, has found how natural acoustic environments are indeed beneficial for health, both physical and mental.

According to his study, hearing sounds such as running water in a river, a waterfall or rain, as well as also listening to sounds of animals such as the songs of birds have a positive impact on our Health. Among the many benefits of natural sounds has been found to reduce pain and stress, as well as improve mood and even increase cognitive performance.

Rachel Buxton, from the Department of Biology at Carleton University in Canada, suggests why natural sounds are beneficial to human health. From her explanation in the article and in some interviews that have been done with her, it can be deduced that the human being does not stop being what he is, an animal, and that As much as we have been moving away from the forests to live in the urban jungle, we do not stop being connected to nature.

Natural sounds give us a sense of space, connect us to nature and give us clues as to what we can expect from the place where we find ourselves. There is increasing evidence that natural sounds are a fundamental aspect of enjoying good health and well-being since we continue to depend on nature. If we stop hearing it, we start to worry and feel bad.

Study methodology

In their investigation, Buxton and colleagues analyzed and contrasted the data of 36 investigations, of which which 18 compared trying to discern if indeed natural sounds improve our welfare. One of the conclusions drawn by the group was that, of all the natural sounds studied, the ones that seemed to be most effective in improving mood and concentration were those of the water type (p. g., hearing a river).

To assess what changes natural sounds induce, the researchers of the various studies consulted used different tests to measure their impact. Thus, physiological responses such as heart rate, blood pressure and stress hormone levels to see if the subject was more relaxed when hearing a sound natural. More subjective measures were also used, such as perceived pain as an indicator of well-being.

After conducting the meta-analysis, Buxton's group examined the distribution of natural sounds relative to human-generated sound at 221 locations in 68 US parks. They found that only 11.3% of those places were very rich in natural sounds and practically free of anthropogenic noise, while the rest of the parks, especially those located near urban centers, had a greater amount of noise of human origin although they were also acoustic environments with sounds natural.

Although it is preferable to be immersed in an environment with only natural sounds, which do not being “clean” and isolated does not mean that there are no benefits or that it stresses us, but rather by contrary. Natural sounds were found to help reduce the negative impact of noise such as car horns or power drills.

In fact, they found that listening to noise combined with natural sounds had better health outcomes than listening to noise alone. That is, even living in an urban environment with noise pollution, If you are lucky enough to live near a park or enjoy the sweet song of the birds, it is Quite likely to have better mental health than those who do not enjoy these sounds natural.

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Why is it beneficial?

It is not yet known exactly why natural sounds generate a positive reaction, but taking an evolutionary perspective, one can try to make sense of it. In fact, Buxton herself has her own explanation of it, stating that the acoustic environment can serve as an indicator of how safe the environment itself is, based on the idea that how noisy an environment is gives us clues as to whether we are in danger or not.

That is, if an acoustic environment has many pleasing natural sounds, such as birdsong and the gentle flow of water in a river, our brain interprets it as that we are in a place where there are no threats and that it is safe to stay there. If we stay in that place nothing will happen to us. It is a place that allows mental recovery because we are not at the limit.

On the contrary, an environment in which there is a lot of noise and violence is perceived as a dangerous place, with threats. Naturally, our body will begin to express stress and anxiety in anticipation that it is in a place where something could happen to us. bad and in order to keep our integrity intact, it begins to go into survival mode, preparing to perform a fight behavior or flight.

This last explanation would be the one that would help us understand why the noise of a drill, the exhaust pipe of a car or the angry discussion of two passers-by do not relax us. These are dangerous and aggressive objects or situations, stimuli from which it is better to stay away. away, but living in a big city it is difficult to stay away from them by will own.

We must protect our natural environments

Taking into account all that has been explained, it is important to have natural spaces in big cities or take advantage of the opportunity to visiting the countryside and the beach from time to time, going on excursions to the mountains, practicing ornithology or lying down next to a River. Natural environments must be protected and promoted insofar as, in addition to their multiple environmental benefits, they also imply benefits for human health and can act as a protective factor against diseases associated with stress.

So now we know. If we are lucky enough to live near a forest, a river, the beach or any natural environment, now we have no excuse not to go, since our health can perfectly benefit from it. And, if by bad luck, we are among those who are trapped in the madding crowd of big cities, we should not despair, since platforms like YouTube or Spotify offer us multiple recordings with sounds natural. Of course it is not the same as enjoying them in real life, but it is not a bad option to add them to our “playlist” and try to keep our minds at peace.

Bibliographic references:

• Buxton, R. T., Pearson, A. L., Allou, C., Fristrup, K., & Wittemyer, G. (2021). A synthesis of health benefits of natural sounds and their distribution in national parks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(14), e2013097118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2013097118