Nowadays, social media is packed with unpleasant content that might have an impact on our mental health. Social media platforms may be merely a virtual realm we visit while we are in front of screens, but it has been demonstrated over and again that it causes anxiety, poor sleep, and depression.
According to a study from the United Kingdom, listening to tweets (from real birds, not via the app) can help people improve their mental health.
Bird Encounters Boost Mental Health
As reported by The Guardian, King's College London researchers discovered that seeing birds and listening to their songs significantly boosts the mental health of individuals with depression as well as those who have not been diagnosed.
The study found that visiting sites rich in nature and home to birds, such as parks and streams, can be beneficial to people recovering from certain mental health issues. The study even recommended that health practitioners could prescribe such activities to patients with such conditions.
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Based on the study, the mental health advantages of everyday encounters with birds were previously unheard of. Also, in the said study, the researchers utilized an innovative data collection method to assess birdlife's effects on mental health.
The study employed a smartphone app to investigate the effect of seeing or hearing birds on self-reported mental well-being in real-life situations.
The research adopted the app Urban Mind, which analyzes users' current experiences of urban or rural living. Users will be prompted three times a day on the app to respond to questions about how they feel and their surroundings.
The study included 1292 participants who performed a total of 26,856 momentary ecological evaluations over three years. Participants came from all over the world, with the majority from the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States, China, and Australia.
The participants were asked at random intervals throughout the course of two weeks to record their feelings, including whether they were pleased or stressed out, whether they could see trees, and whether they could hear or see birds.
Impressive and Meaningful Results
Multilevel regression analysis found a considerable favorable link between hearing or seeing birds and mental wellness, according to the findings. This beneficial effect continued far beyond the moment of encountering birds, with people who did not see or hear birds the next time they recorded their mood.
The researchers also stated that their findings underlined the need to strengthen environmental protection and biodiversity in urban, suburban, and rural regions in order to conserve bird habitats.
"We need to create and support environments, particularly urban environments, where bird life is a constant feature. To have a healthy population of birds, you also need plants, you also need trees. We need to nurture the whole ecosystem within our cities," said Andrea Mechelli, a professor of early intervention in mental health at King's College London.
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