Watching birds can improve your mental health
If you are living in a neighbourhood surrounded
by trees and shrubs, with birds chirping all the time, there are less chances
for you to suffer from anxiety or stress,
a new study has revealed. According to researchers at the University of
Exeter, the British Trust for Ornithology and the University of Queensland,
lower levels of depression,
anxiety and stress were associated with the number of birds people could see in
the afternoon. The study published in the journal BioScience found
benefits for mental health of
being able to see birds, shrubs and trees around the home, whether people lived
in urban or more leafy suburban neighbourhoods.
“This study starts to unpick the role that some key
components of nature play for our mental well-being. Birds around the home, and
nature in general, show great promise in preventative health care, making
cities healthier, happier places to live,” said Daniel Cox from University of
Exeter. A recent research by Cox also found that watching birds makes
people feel relaxed and connected to nature. Did your weekend trip to the
beach leave you feeling relaxed and refreshed? Well, now there’s science that
proves residents with a view of the water are less stressed. The study,
co-authored by Michigan State University’s Amber L. Pearson, is the first to
find a link between health and the visibility of water, which the researchers
call blue space. ‘Increased views of blue space are significantly associated with
lower levels of psychological distress,’ said Pearson. ‘However, we did not
find that with green space.’ Using various topography data, the researchers
studied the visibility of blue and green spaces from residential locations in
Wellington, New Zealand, an urban capital city surrounded by the Tasman Sea on
the north and the Pacific Ocean on the south. Green space includes forests and
grassy parks.
28.02.2017
Peace begins when expectation
ends
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