Being Around Birds Can Give You Lasting Mood Boosting Benefits

Many Americans are searching for new ways to improve their mental health– from online counseling and therapy to wellness apps and fitness trackers. However, new research from the United Kingdom’s King’s College London is showing that one easy way to boost your mood could come from spending time around birds and listening to their songs.

The data for the study was collected using a smartphone application, which relies on users self-reporting their mood after a series of questions with the aim of gathering real-time data. 

Nearly 1,300 participants from the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries in Europe and throughout the world reported that interacting with wild birds during their daily life caused a boost in their moods.

“Much of the prior research has already demonstrated a link between nature and mental well-being, but we wanted to understand what specific characteristics in the natural environment could be beneficial,” said Ryan Hammoud, one of the study’s lead authors, during an interview for The Epoch Times. “To our knowledge, this is the first study where we explore the effects of everyday encounters with birds on mental well-being in real-time as people go about their daily routines.”

The study took place between April 2018 and October 2021, meaning the participants were actively tracking their mood during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interviews with the participants also revealed that hearing a birdsong in particular was associated with relief of psychological stress and attentional fatigue.

Experiencing a Birdsong Involves More Than Just Ears

But not all bird songs are created equal. The study also showed that several attributes of the birdsong would change how impactful the song was on the subject. Things such as familiarity, complexity, and pattern of the birdsong all proved to be predictive of how impactful the song’s benefit might be.

Researchers also concluded that experiencing birdlife was beneficial to those individuals who had a previous depression diagnosis. They paid special attention to those study participants who had previously been diagnosed with mental health conditions, specifically those with depression. They also found that a diagnosis of depression had no effect on how impactful birdlife interactions would be on a person’s mood.

According to the study’s authors, depression is currently the most common mental health illness throughout the world and is also the leading cause of disability and sick leave globally.” Due to its importance, the authors paid special attention to individuals suffering from depression.  

However, the researchers pointed out that listening and interacting with birds is a multi-sensory experience. As such, researchers are also looking at how the presence of bird songs in an outdoor environment enhances the restorative properties of the natural setting.

One upside of these findings is the relative popularity of birdwatching and otherwise interacting with birds both in the United States and the United Kingdom. According to the authors of the study, over 70 million Americans report being “interested” in birdwatching. 

“Birds are found in every neighborhood and habitat, and people of all ages, skill levels, and abilities can benefit from spending time birdwatching,” said Megan Moriarty, communications manager for the National Audubon Society, in an email to The Epoch Times.

Moriarty also pointed out that birdwatching can be equally beneficial for bird populations, especially those threatened or endangered.

“Recent studies have shown that North America has lost nearly 3 billion birds since 1970–birdwatching is one way to support them and the places they need,” Moriarty said.

Research Shows the Value of Spending Time in Nature

This latest research is just part of a larger body of work that is showing the relationship between mental well-being and nature. Previous studies have examined how green spaces and blue spaces can combat negative moods.

“We started the project out of an interest in the environmental factors that can influence mental health,” said Hammoud. “Since a majority of the world’s population now lives in cities where the incidence of mental illness is higher, we were interested in exploring what factors could be contributing to this link.”

Hammoud says that further studies could show more evidence that encountering nature as part of everyday life has benefits for mental well-being.

“We have only scratched the surface of what we can explore using the data collected,” said Hammoud. “We have previously explored the effect of proximity to canals and rivers on mental well-being, the effect of natural elements on mental well-being, and the effect of loneliness, social inclusion, and population density on mental well-being. We plan to continue our work exploring the link between the environment and mental health in real time. At the moment, I am trying to explore the link between the amount of nature and mental well-being.”

“As our results show that there is an established time-lasting link between everyday encounters with birds and improved mental well-being, we would hope that this would encourage those in policy-making and city-planning positions to create/preserve environments that are capable of sustaining birdlife, especially in our cities,” Hammoud said. 

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