While looking at nature eases our minds as it leaves us feeling therapeutic— it turns out that it actually is.
A developing study originating from 40 years ago revealed that hospitalized patients would recover quicker when they gazed out their windows to overlook green spaces rather than brick walls, noting that this would require them “fewer painkillers.”
The simple act of looking at nature, or even just photos of it, has been documented in decades worth of studies to carry a potential to relieve pain. This was evaluated in a research that scanned the brains of people who were receiving electrical shocks.
This finding was further rationalized by Maximilian Steininger, a neuroscientist at the University of Vienna and lead author of a study published in Nature Communications last March 13, after he noted, “Yet until now, the underlying reasons for this effect were unclear.” The apparent problem in this scenario is the fact that both nature and pain can be subjective.
In line with the mentioned problem, the placebo effect was highlighted wherein the researchers wondered, “Because people like nature, it could have a placebo effect. Or what if it is not nature that reduces pain, but city life that increases it?”
A whopping 49 volunteers were subject to the study as the scientists further probed the matter by recording each of their brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). While looking at different images of nature, the back of their left hands had been tied up to electric shocks (some more painful than others) to put the theory into the test.
Ultimately, participants reported feeling less pain when natural landscapes were presented to them during the electric shock on the back of their hands. The fMRI also revealed a clear difference in their brain activity.
With this, Steininger shared in a statement, “Our study is the first to provide evidence from brain scans that this isn’t just a placebo effect.”
“Nocicepcion,” a part of the brain that receives pain, had been said to possibly decrease the pain in activity felt in the human body because the nature scenes had provoked its transmission. It was additionally mentioned, however, that “other areas linked to regulating pain were not significantly affected.”
The researchers voiced that the results are likely due to how natural environments capture people’s attention which diverts them away from sensations of pain, psychologically known as, “attention restoration theory.”
The study’s co-author, Alex Smalley from Exeter University, highlighted the doors of possibilities this finding can open, stating, “The fact that this pain-relieving effect can be achieved through a virtual nature exposure which is easy to administer has important practical implications,” as it “opens new avenues for research to better understand how nature impacts our minds.”
Other POP! stories you might like:
Independent study reveals the worst mobile application to use before sleeping
Scientists link genetic appetite control in Labradors to human obesity
Philippine Eagle Foundation welcomes its newly hatched eagle, ‘Riley’
Life-like robotic dog ‘Jeanie’ provides companionship and medical aid for dementia patients
Medical biology alumni from PH university develop app to detect colorectal cancer
