Hanging out with birds is so pleasant, it might improve our mental wellbeing. A new study has found that people reported all around positive results after spending time in the presence of birds. The positive impact to their mental wellbeing lasted for up to about 8 hours after having a bird interaction.
After people encountered birds in their everyday lives, researchers say people had lingering positive effects, they felt less lonely, they felt happier, more energetic, while being more relaxed and less stressed, people felt more connected to other people and the world around them.
“We report significant mental health benefits of birdlife, evident not only in healthy people but also in those with a diagnosis of depression,” according to the new research visits with birds could be a new mental health treatment. “Visits to habitats with a high degree of birdlife could become part of social prescribing schemes, playing a role in preventing mental health difficulties and complementing more traditional interventions.”
The study used the phone app Urban Mind to collect people’s reports. The application samples people’s experience in real-time, the app also gathers general identity data and also a person’s mental health diagnosis. 1,292 participants were globally recruited for the study. They received an initial baseline assessment that collected basic demographic information, occupation, socioeconomic standing, and other information like sleeping patterns and mental health history.
Following the baseline assessment, the Urban Mind application scheduled a total of 42 ecological momentary assessments during the following 14 days, with 3 assessments on each day. The subjects’ waking hours were divided into 3 equal time windows and each assessment was randomly scheduled into one of these time slots, allowing the subjects to participate at a leisurely pace with flexibility as they go about their daily lives. The assessments “collected information about an individual’s perceived natural, built and social environment and their momentary mental wellbeing.”
During these assessments, the participants reported whether they could see or hear birds, whether they could see trees or plants, whether they could see or hear water, and they were asked how they were currently feeling.
Researchers found that participants’ mental wellbeing tended to be better when seeing or hearing birds compared to when not seeing or hearing birds, and that this effect was more pronounced when the participants were outdoors. This positive effect was shown in both people with or without mental health conditions.
“Our findings demonstrated that everyday encounters with birds had a positive effect on mental wellbeing in the moment and that this positive effect could last up to approximately 8 hours,” a leading researcher, Ryan Hammoud, told PsyPost.
This positive effect on mental wellbeing was observed in both people with depression and people without a mental health condition. Everybody seems to benefit from specifically birdsong and seeing birds, and the benefits are unique and more robust than just simply the mental benefits of spending time in nature.
Photo by Andy Holmes from Unsplash