What Nature Sounds Are Most Relaxing?

However, the presence of natural sounds alongside noise in some instances can improve the perception of soundscape quality, promoting calmness and reductions in annoyance . Prominent, persistent natural sounds may confer additional health benefits by masking noise. Researchers compared the soothing effects of listening to sounds from a natural environment versus an artificial one and found that natural sounds produced more relaxation and stimulated the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the rest and digest part of the nervous system responsible for the balance and maintenance of the body’s systems, including getting quality sleep. And for individuals that had the most substantial amounts of stress, nature sounds induced the greatest levels of relaxation. Perhaps it’s a reminder of that relaxing vacation you took, or it’s just effective in drowning out environmental noise.

Many participants also reported decreased pain and improved mood, and they performed better on cognitive tests. Also, we thank numerous park staff and Colorado State University technicians for placing and servicing acoustic recorders and J. Job, C. White, E. Brown, D. Joyce, and Colorado State University/National Park Service acoustical technicians for analyzing acoustic data. But most of the time, in the heart of most deserts, you can hear nothing but the sound of silence. Most deserts are much hotter in daytime than at night.

In addition to being a major motivation for visiting parks , these natural soundscapes represent important resources to be protected and enhanced for both ecological and social benefits . The health benefits of exposure to nature are well documented (for a recent overview, see ref. 9). Here, we define human health broadly, encompassing physiological outcomes (e.g., stress) and potential psychological precursors along the pathway to health outcomes [e.g., preference ]. Two psychological theories explain the mechanistic basis of the restorative effects of exposure to nature , drawing heavily from the theory of evolution . Attention Restoration Theory centers on the ability of nature to replenish attention through unconscious, cognitive processes .

For the review, the researchers looked at 18 studies investigating the health benefits of natural sound; study participants listened to recordings of outdoor sounds in laboratory settings. Participants reported less stress and improved health outcomes, like decreased pain, after listening to recordings of nature sounds. Broad anthropogenic sound categories included aircraft, motorized vehicles, people talking, domestic animals, trains, and infrastructure maintenance (e.g., grounds care). We recognize that visitor conversation, laughter, and ranger interpretive sessions are intrinsic to park values and visitor experience. Yet, voices can also be noise in the context of experiencing natural sounds .

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I think the sudden drop in volume wakes me up when the timer runs out. Nature app works in background also it has auto-off timer. 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. Researchers used a system called mental chronometry in which reaction times are used to help judge how strongly people react to the different stimuli. It extols the virtue of “forest bathing” beautiful nature sounds for relaxation or shinrin-yoku, the mindful exploration of woodland first developed in Japan in the 1980s.