Gentle woodland sounds such as birdsong and the breeze rustling leaves in the trees are more relaxing than meditation recordings, a new study claims.
Researchers exposed participants to three soundtracks – a woodland, a woman guiding a meditation session and deep silence.
When asked to listen to the woodland sounds for one minute, people felt 30% more relaxed, while stress and anxiety dropped. There was no change in the level of relaxation people felt after listening to the meditation or the silence.
The experiment found that 60 seconds of the voice meditation app was slightly more effective at making participants feel less stressed and anxious. Silence also proved a tiny bit better at making people feel less anxious.
The National Trust commissioned the research as part of an effort to get more people out into environments such as woodland.
It is flagging up the fact that the UK’s 3.19m hectares (7.8m acres) of woodlandprovide one of the most accessible places for people to relax in. A fifth of people never visit the woods, it says.
Patrick Begg, the trust’s director of outdoors and natural resources director, said: “Sometimes a simple walk in woodlands, where you’re surrounded by the echoes of calling birds, and that satisfying crunch of fallen leaves and twigs underfoot, is the perfect remedy for reducing stress.”
The National Trust cares for 26,000 hectares of woodland in England, Wales and Northern Ireland across 400 different sites, accounting for around 12m trees, 40,000 of which are classified as ancient, veteran and notable trees.
It extols the virtue of “forest bathing” or shinrin-yoku, the mindful exploration of woodland first developed in Japan in the 1980s.
Eleanor Ratcliffe, a lecturer in environmental psychology at the University of Surrey, said: “There is a large body of scientific evidence demonstrating that experience of nature can benefit health and wellbeing, including recovery from everyday psychological stress.
“Much of this research has focused on visual experiences, but more recent work has shown that the sounds of the outdoors, such as birdsong, wind, and water, can also improve mood and reduce stress. These sounds offer a way to connect with nature no matter where you are.”
The experiment was carried out by the research agency Walnut Unlimited. It took place in laboratory conditions rather than in the wilds and involved 600 people.
Researchers used a system called mental chronometry in which reaction times are used to help judge how strongly people react to the different stimuli.
When asked to relax with woodlands sound for one minute, people said they felt 30% more relaxed, 25% less stressed and 20% less anxious.
Ratcliffe said there were a number of explanations for the findings. “Some are psycho-evolutionary, that we are adapted to be in a natural environment like woodland.
“It could also be cultural association so we associate going into nature with an opportunity to relax. If we can hear those sounds we’re reminded of being in a relaxing place even if we’re in a laboratory.”
Ratcliffe said people may also associate such sounds with actively helping themselves, but cautioned against exaggerating the findings. “I don’t want to give the impression that going outside can solve everyone’s problems,” she said.
Forestry England gathered data earlier this year from a string of studies that it said showed strong scientific evidence that visiting a forest can improve mood and attention span, and even enhance psychological stress recovery.
It said walking among trees reduced levels of cortisol, a hormone associated with stress, and that a forest walk could boost the immune system by inhaling phytoncides, which trees emit to protect themselves from germs and insects.