How To Get The Physiological And Psychological Benefits Of Nature If You Don't Live Near Nature | Dacher Keltner
This episode features Dr. Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, discussing how to access nature's benefits even in urban areas. He shares practical tips like listening to birdsong, observing street trees, and using imagination or nature media to improve well-being.
Deep Dive Analysis
10 Topic Outline
Introduction to Nature Benefits in Urban Settings
Accessing Nature's Benefits in Cities
The Science of Birdsong and Water Sounds
Impact of Street Trees on Mental Health
Benefits of Simulated Nature Experiences
The Value of Flowers and City Parks
Yard Work and Caring for Plants
Pets as a Connection to Nature
Photography as a Tool for Savoring Nature
Using Imagination to Conjure Nature's Benefits
6 Key Concepts
Afforestation
This refers to the practice of planting more trees, which is scientifically supported as beneficial for human bodies and brains. Research shows that diverse trees in neighborhoods contribute to calmness and health, and urban reforestation projects can even reduce crime rates.
Vagus Nerve Activation
Listening to sounds of water, such as rain or streams, can elevate the vagus nerve. This bundle of nerves helps the body to open up, calm down, and improve concentration, demonstrating a physiological benefit from auditory nature experiences.
Amygdala Deactivation
Watching compelling nature documentaries, like those from BBC Earth, has been shown to deactivate the amygdala, which is the brain's region associated with stress and threat. This deactivation indicates a significant calming effect on the brain.
Default Mode Network Deactivation
Alongside amygdala deactivation, watching nature documentaries also reduces activity in the default mode network. This brain region is typically associated with self-focused thought, suggesting that nature imagery can shift mental focus away from internal rumination.
Savoring Mindset
This is an intentional state of reflection where an individual consciously takes in and appreciates something that brings joy and meaning, such as a natural scene. Practices like photography can help cultivate this mindset by encouraging deliberate observation and appreciation.
Slow Looking
Inspired by art experiences, slow looking is a meditative technique that involves guiding one's mind to meticulously notice specific details within a scene, such as colors, shapes, shadows, and patterns. This practice deepens perceptual engagement and can be applied to nature observation.
7 Questions Answered
Even in cities, people can benefit by intentionally finding spaces and opening their senses to nature, such as listening to birdsong or water sounds, appreciating flowers, engaging in yard work, or visiting city parks.
Yes, listening to birdsong or water sounds can calm the body and elevate the vagus nerve, while watching nature documentaries can deactivate the brain's stress region (amygdala) and self-focused network.
Yes, research shows that living in neighborhoods with diverse trees is linked to greater calmness and health, and big data approaches track reduced rates of depression and anxiety in proximity to green spaces and trees.
While the vibrancy of scents might differ, the beauty, colors, patterns, and fractal unfolding of florist flowers can still benefit the mind by promoting a sense of beauty, calm, and attentional freeing up, and can calm the stress response.
Pets, especially dogs, foster a connection to nature by encouraging owners to walk them outdoors in parks and natural settings, in addition to the direct emotional and social benefits of pet interaction like oxytocin release.
While direct experience is primary, photography can be a powerful tool for 'savoring' nature, serving as a reflective moment to appreciate and remember natural beauty, if done with intention and care rather than as a distraction.
Yes, contemplative practices that involve recalling a meaningful place in nature, focusing on its images, sounds, scents, and even tastes, can evoke emotional benefits and strengthen one's connection to nature.
14 Actionable Insights
1. Intentionally Open Senses to Nature
Be intentional about finding natural spaces in cities and open all your senses to experience nature’s benefits.
2. Visit City Parks
Seek out and visit city parks, regional parks, or rewilded patches, as they offer astounding benefits like reduced depression and anxiety, and better activity for the elderly.
3. Practice Mindful Yard Work
Engage in yard work like sweeping or raking, slowing down, being aware, and deepening your breathing, or care for indoor plants, as this helps with depression and general well-being.
4. Listen to Live Birdsong
Go to a place where you can hear birds, pause, quiet your mind, and listen to derive benefits for calmness and ease.
5. Listen to Live Water Sounds
Take a moment to listen to natural water sounds like rain or a stream, as this has benefits.
6. Engage with Live Flowers
Be intentional about finding and opening your senses to flowers, as their chemicals can calm the stress response in your body.
7. Live Near Diverse Trees
Seek to live in neighborhoods with diverse trees or participate in planting them, as proximity to green spaces and trees is linked to reduced depression and anxiety.
8. Interact with Pets
Relate to your pet, especially dogs, by looking them in the eye for oxytocin release, and consider walking them to get out into nature, which offers mental and physical health benefits.
9. Watch Nature Documentaries
Watch compelling nature documentaries like BBC Earth, as this can deactivate stress and self-focused regions of your brain, offering benefits similar to meditating or yoga.
10. Play Nature Sound Recordings
Listen to recordings of birdsong or water sounds on your phone, as this can calm your body and elevate the vagus nerve, helping you open up, calm, and concentrate better.
11. Buy and Observe Cut Flowers
Purchase cut flowers and observe their beauty, colors, patterns, and fractal unfolding, as this can benefit your sense of beauty, calm, and attentional freeing.
12. Engage with Natural Fragrances
Seek out and enjoy natural fragrances like rosemary, as they are part of nature and have benefits.
13. Mindfully Photograph Nature
Take pictures of nature in your environment as a reflective act to savor moments of awe and beauty, but do so carefully and judiciously to avoid distraction from direct experience.
14. Practice Slow Looking in Nature
Engage in “slow looking” by mentally noting details in a natural scene, such as colors, shapes, shadows, and patterns, to deepen your perceptual experience.
4 Key Quotes
Almost all of the benefits of nature probably can be derived to some extent from images and sounds that you can enjoy anywhere.
Dacher Keltner
Just watching BBC Earth, I think it was, or one of the compelling nature documentaries, deactivates the amygdala, the stress region of your brain, threat region of your brain, and the default mode network, the self-focused region of different chunks of your cortex.
Dacher Keltner
It's incredible. It really does speak to how central nature is to human flourishing, that we don't actually need to be in nature to derive the benefits of it.
Dan Harris
It's incredible. And when I talk to groups like healthcare providers about that practice and help them go through it, you know, some of them tear up. They remember a place that they went camping with their grandparents, you know, and it reminds us, just like you said, Dan, of this sacred relationship we have to nature that is jeopardized today for many reasons, and we need to fortify.
Dacher Keltner
1 Protocols
Recalling a Meaningful Place in Nature
Dacher Keltner- Get into a pattern of deep breathing, calm your body, and deepen the exhalation.
- Call to mind a place of significance in nature that has meaning to you.
- In your mind, get a sense of what it looks like, focusing on a favorite spot and its visual details (e.g., pine needles, trees, rocks).
- Think about the sounds you might hear in that place (e.g., scrub jays, woodpeckers).
- Try to call to mind certain scents you might smell (e.g., cedar, pine).
- If you are gifted at it, consider what it might taste like.