During pandemic, a little bit of birdsong helps

In a sea of the pandemic, amid a flurry of activity to stem the much-feared and hated coronavirus, some things are simply given the go-by. The remedy is largely medical in nature.  Nature itself could be a panacea for some issues, such as mental problems.

This is because many COVID-19 survivors are likely to be at greater risk of developing mental illness. A recent study found 20 per cent of those infected with the coronavirus are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder within 90 days.

Anxiety, depression and insomnia were most common among recovered COVID-19 patients in the study who developed mental health problems, and the researchers also found significantly higher risks of dementia, a brain impairment condition.

“People have been worried that COVID-19 survivors will be at greater risk of mental health problems, and our findings ... show this to be likely,” said Paul Harrison, a professor of psychiatry at Britain’s Oxford University.

In such cases, falling back on the benefits from Nature, particularly birds, helps a lot. Birdsong has a powerful healing effect which can improve mental health and benefit hospital patients.

A 2004 report in the prestigious medical journal, Thorax, on the effects of birdsong on patients recovering from a lung operation said “they needed less pain relief and were far more relaxed.”

Those suffering from high levels of stress may scoff at the idea of communicating with Nature to cure what are regarded as human issues that should be dealt with by humans. The problem is that we have lost our connection with nature.

Birds ‘sing’ to mark and defend their space, but to the human ear their territorial twittering is an aural tonic that can considerably boost wellbeing, even from a recording, a new study has confirmed. While a growing body of research has shown that time spent in the natural world benefits human health, few studies have explored the reasons why.

A new piece of research by a team at the California Polytechnic State University sought to investigate the role the sound of birdsong plays in how people perceive their overall experience and assess their own wellbeing while in areas away from human environments.

“There is a lot of evidence that spending time in nature has positive effects on human well-being. However, few studies have considered the specific qualities of nature that confer these benefits,” said biology graduate student Danielle Ferraro, who led the study.

“While the bigger picture of nature’s restorative properties is likely to involve multiple senses, our study is the first to experimentally manipulate a single one (sound) in the field and demonstrate its importance to human experiences in nature.”

Ferraro and her team hid speakers which played recorded songs from a diverse group of birds on two sections of trails in the Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks in Colorado.

The researchers alternated playing birdsong and turning the speakers off on each trail section in weekly blocks. Hikers were interviewed after they passed through these sections.

Those who heard the additional birdsong reported a greater sense of wellbeing than those who didn’t – even though it was a convincing recording, rather than the real thing. The survey results showed both the sounds themselves and people’s perception of biodiversity can increase feelings of well-being.

On the first section of the trail, hikers who heard more birdsong simply reported that they felt better but didn’t comment that they thought more birds lived along that part of the trail. But hikers who heard more birdsong on the other section said that they thought more birds lived along that section of the trail, and researchers found this perception of more species was responsible for making hikers feel better. Less human noise pollution could contribute to greater human happiness by making it easier to hear natural sounds, including birdsong, they said.