Imagining Nature Relaxes Us

Scientists have known for a long time that nature is good for health. Walking in a forest, sitting by the ocean or even looking at trees in a park can help people feel calm, reduce stress, and improve their mood. And some studies show that even watching nature videos or looking at photos of nature can make people feel better.

Now, a new study shows that you don't even have to see nature with your eyes—— just imagining nature in your mind can help you relax too. In this study, 50 university students first completed a difficult task that caused stress. Then, researchers gave them nature-related(与自然相关的) words to imagine, such as “mountain” or “forest”, and city-related words, such as“library” or“factory”.The researchers then measured(测量) how relaxed the students felt, and checked their bodies for signs of stress.

The results were clear: When students imagined nature, their heart rate variability(心率变异性) went up and their heart rate slowed down—— both signs of being more relaxed. Heart rate variability is the small change in time between each heartbeat. When this number goes up, it usually means the body is calm and not feeling stressed. The study also found that people who already liked nature felt even more relaxed when imagining it.

The researchers say this could be useful for treatment. However, the study mainly focused on young adults, so more research is needed to see if it works for other groups of people.