Researchers at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (UK) found that sounds of nature affect your brain by lowering fight-or-flight stress hormones and relaxing your nervous system. Participants listened to two different types of sounds – nature sounds and man-made artificial sounds – while lying in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner that measured their brain activity. Nature sounds produced brain activity associated with relaxation and improved mental concentration. The artificial sounds created brain activity associated with anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Lead author Dr Cassandra Gould van Praag said: “We are all familiar with the feeling of relaxation and ‘switching-off’ which comes from a walk in the countryside, and now we have evidence from the brain and the body which helps us to understand this effect. I would definitely recommend a walk in natural surroundings to anyone, whether they’re currently feeling frazzled or not. Even a few minutes of escape can be beneficial.”