Research from the Univ. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has found that watching videos from beautiful outdoor places builds nature-based mindfulness. It imparts the same emotional and mental benefits as actually going outside and fosters a sense of connection with nature.
Yue “Darcy” Lu, a doctoral student, recorded nature videos while traveling. She kept a daily journal of all her thoughts, feelings and the physical sensations she was experiencing.
Separately, she analyzed more than 3,000 reviews of online virtual tours of natural areas. The tours included cherry blossoms in Japan, wildlife in Africa and sunset in Thailand. She wanted to learn if immersive digital experiences gave the same benefits as physically visiting a place. She saw that the tourists reacted as if they had physically been to the places.
“The findings suggest that videography can do more than just document nature,” said Ms. Lu. “Nature-based mindfulness builds people’s coping resources and contributes to a stronger sense of well-being. It can also help people to slow down, notice more and feel more connected to the environment.”
A study from Finland found that watching short, realistic videos of walking through a forest made people feel less stressed. First, the researchers had participants perform stressful tasks, like hard math or repeating numbers backwards. Then they were shown either a control video of the weather forecast or the five-minute nature walk film.
The researchers measured the participants’ sympathetic nervous system response and monitored their brain waves using an EEG. People’s brains and nervous systems calmed down watching the nature walk. They also reported feeling calmer. People who enjoyed being in nature and felt more connected to the outdoors got even more of a boost from the video.
Another study tested the same thing, this time with young adults. About 75 percent of mental health disorders begin by age 24. The study used 76 people aged 18 to 25. Half the group watched a nature walk; the others watched an urban train commute. Both videos were six minutes long and had soundtracks that matched them — birds and waterfalls for the nature film, train noises in the urban film.
Stress levels were significantly better in people who watched the nature video. The results were long-lasting and improved each time they subsequently watched the video. Attention span was also improved by watching the nature video. However, the nature video did not combat depressive rumination or feelings.
