“There are pretty striking health benefits to the sounds of nature,” says Rachel Buxton, a research scientist in Carleton’s Department of Biology.
“Natural sounds alleviate stress and provide a range of health benefits. They improve our mood and our cognitive abilities. They have been shown to decrease pain during painful medical procedures and, of course, they alleviate stress.” – Prof. Rachel Buxton
Working with researchers from Michigan State, Colorado State and the U.S. National Park Service, Buxton conducted a meta-analysis of research into the health benefits of different types of nature sounds.
Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, the researchers found that people who listened to natural sounds had health outcomes that were 180 per cent better than those who did not.