A recent study found that watching nature videos could improve young people’s mental health by reducing stress and improving mood.
- Watching nature videos helps reduce stress and improve mood and attention.
- On the other hand, films showing walks in green spaces did not reduce depressive ruminations.
- For researchers, watching nature videos can be a practical alternative for stressed people who don’t have easy access to nature.
Does your busy schedule leave you little time to relax and stress is mounting? If you don’t have time to take a real walk in the woods or by the sea, watch a nature video. A study carried out by British researchers shows that watching this type of film improves mental health.
The study was published in the journal Nature : Scientific Reports THE October 18, 2023.
Stress: nature videos help relieve pressure
As part of the study, researchers gathered 76 young people aged 18 to 25 and divided them into two groups. The first had to watch a video presenting a walk in a natural environment such as a wood or along a river, while the members of the second observed a journey on the London Underground at rush hour. Both films lasted six minutes, and contained sounds linked to the images, such as birdsong or running water for the clip on green spaces, or the sound of the metro engine and service announcements for urban video.
The results showed that people who watched the nature footage had significantly lower stress levels than those who watched the subway ride film. The reduction observed proved to be lasting and improved with each session. Moreover, their relaxation levels and attention span were also improved.
In contrast, levels of depression, or depressive thoughts, were not improved in either group. For researchers, this suggests that a brief video cannot replace the beneficial effects of “real” nature for psychological disorders like depression.
Nature video: easy-to-install support
Although they cannot replace the direct experience of walks in the forest, in parks or by the sea, nature videos can help adolescents and young adults in difficulty escape from their stressful daily lives for a few minutes and thus reducing their anxiety disorders.
“The intervention was readily accepted and feasible, suggesting that, overall, brief viewings of a virtual nature may be useful in a range of adolescent mental health contexts, including as universal or targeted prevention strategies self-help, as a complement to psychological therapy and in preparation for more intensive interventions. Additionally, these nature videos support accessibility for those who may be time limited, unable to access real nature, or who do notlove not/have afraid of being in nature”write the two co-authors Matthew Owens and Hannah Bunce in their scientific article.
