April brings a rush of migrating birds and birdsong to Ohio, bringing joy to birders in the state. Research shows that it has another benefit: it can improve your mental health.
In a new study, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany examined how traffic noise and birdsong affected mood, paranoia, and cognitive functioning by carrying out a randomized online experiment with 295 people.
Participants heard six minutes of either typical traffic noise or birdsong with varying amounts and types of birdsong and traffic noises. Before and after hearing the sound clips, the participants completed questionnaires assessing their mental health.
Results showed that listening to birdsong reduced anxiety and paranoia in healthy participants. Birdsong did not appear to have an influence on depressive states in this experiment. Traffic noise, however, generally worsened depressive states, especially if the audio clip involved many different kinds of traffic sounds.
In the researchers‘ view, the explanation for these effects is that birdsong is a subtle indication of an intact natural environment, and can take people’s mind off the stress they may be feeling.
Researchers said that listening to an audio CD of birdsongs would be a simple, easily accessible intervention for people feeling stress. But they said it may be even better to listen to birds in nature.
“We were recently able to perform a study showing that a one-hour walk in nature reduces brain activity associated with stress,” said the research group’s head, Simone Kühn. “We cannot say yet which features of nature — smells, sounds, color, or a combination thereof — are responsible for the effect.”
What is clear that nature – especially the songs of birds – improves mental health and well-being. So go out and enjoy migration!