Research shows that wellbeing-in-nature activities not only reduce stress and support health but also foster social connection and compassion.  Forest Bathing in the UK has been found to increase compassion for others by 18% (McEwan et al., 2021), while online programmes for people with long Covid reported an 81% increase in social connection (McEwan [...]

Research by Eric Pfeifer and Marc Whitman (2020) explores the perception of silence and its potential therapeutic effect. It also points to the important role of nature 'as a booster concerning the positive effects of silence experiences.' The research involved a series of quantitative studies during which individuals were silent in different contexts - [...]

In this research (Kirsten McEwan et al, 2021) looked at the benefits of walking silently in nature (via forest bathing).  There were improvements in positive emotions, mood disturbance, rumination, nature connection and compassion.  An increase in heart rate variability was noted in 57% of participants.  Spending time alone with a tree at the end [...]

In this study by Eric Pfeifer, Nikolas Geyer, Frank Torch and Marc Wittmann (2019), 64 students spent a period of time in silence (6.30 minutes) alone in a room.  Participants were instructed to 'just think'.  The majority of students felt significantly more relaxed, less aroused, and in a better mood after this period of [...]

Researchers Eric Pfeifer, Henrike Fiedler and Marc Wittmann (2018) found that silence in an outdoor natural setting, when compared to a similar experience inside, led to a stronger 'present orientation' (experiencing the moment) and a reduced past orientation.  It also generated more relaxation and less boredom.  Although this study focused on the use of [...]

Gordon Hempton is an acoustic ecologist and Emmy Award winning sound recordist.  He has 'circled the globe three times over the last 35 years in pursuit of Earth's rarest nature sounds'.  Gordon believes that preserving natural silence is as necessary as species preservation. Fortunately, he considers rescuing silence to be less difficult than many of [...]

Dr Sarah Bell, a researcher at Sensing Nature blogs about learning to listen. Sensing Nature was a two-year ESRC funded project exploring the diverse sensory and emotional experiences of the visually impaired in the natural world.  In a Sensing Nature blog, Sarah drew attention to the experience of Karis Petty, an anthropologist at the [...]

There's plenty of research to demonstrate that spending time in nature is good for us, but rather less to explain why this should be the case.  Relatively little work has explored the benefits of being silent in nature. Dr Miles Richardson, Head of Psychology at the University of Derby and founder and coordinator of the [...]

Research demonstrates that we are soothed by the sounds of nature but that too much man-made noise, even if it isn't sufficiently loud to cause hearing loss, generates harmful levels of stress. Results of a study published in Psychological Science (Vol 13, No 9) showed the effects of the relocation of Munich's airport on the health [...]