Exposure to nature helps to calm the nerves and relieve stress, but the inability of many people to access green spaces may deprive them of this benefit.
Conversely, a recent study suggests that watching videos featuring natural scenery, such as forests and streams, can have similar positive effects, even when viewed via a phone or computer screen.
The study, which involved researchers from North Carolina State University and research institutions in Europe and the United States, showed that watching nature videos helps people recover from stress more effectively than watching videos depicting urban environments.
Aaron Heap, a professor of community health and sustainability in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at North Carolina State University, said that research indicates that the benefits of nature do not always require a human being to be in the natural place itself, explaining that viewing nature through a screen can help one feel relaxed and calm.
Heap, who also serves as the director of the university's Nature and Health Collaborative Initiative, added that many people do not have the opportunity to enjoy nature from their workplaces or homes, but videos available online may provide an easy way to access similar calming effects.
An experiment to measure the effect of nature on stress
The study involved about a thousand volunteers, who were initially shown a 10-minute video containing scenes of workplace accidents in industrial environments, with the aim of raising their stress level.
After that, the participants were randomly divided to watch one of six environmental videos, each lasting 10 minutes. Two of the videos showed natural scenes of a forest and a stream, while the other four videos showed scenes from urban environments, such as pedestrian areas and busy roads.
The researchers measured changes in the participants' psychological and physical state before and after watching the stressful video, and then after watching environmental clips. Measurements included emotions such as fear, anger, sadness, and positive feelings, as well as physical indicators such as heart rate and perspiration.
The results showed that the stressful video led to increased feelings of fear, anger, and sadness among participants, along with decreased positive emotions and alertness. Physical changes associated with stress were also observed, such as increased sweating and altered heart rate.
However, after watching nature videos, participants reported greater improvement in their mental state compared to those who watched urban videos, experiencing more positive emotions and lower levels of anger. Simultaneously, physical indicators of stress began to improve in all participants over time.
Hep explained that the study's results confirm previous research indicating that viewing natural scenery, even via video, can help in recovering from acute stress, both psychologically and physically, noting that the improvement may be small but lasting.
The researchers pointed out that nature videos are easily accessible, as they can be played on platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, or displayed on television screens and computers in homes, offices, schools, and waiting rooms.
Hepp already uses this method in his course "Nature, Health and Wellbeing," where at the end of each 90-minute lecture he shows a short clip about nature to help students regain focus and relieve mental stress.
Hep emphasized that introducing nature videos or virtual reality technologies into schools, universities, and healthcare facilities could provide brief moments of relief, whether during tests, medical procedures, or after long periods of concentration.
