--- title: Why Nature Sounds Help You Relax, According to Science description: According to a new study, the sounds of nature alter connections in our brains, reducing the body’s natural fight-or-flight instinct canonical: https://time.com/4727058/nature-sounds-relaxation-stress/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-05T17:00:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:13:51.555Z article:section: Health og:title: Why Nature Sounds Help You Relax og:description: They reduce the body’s fight-or-flight instinct og:url: https://time.com/4727058/nature-sounds-relaxation-stress/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc56bdd25ad450b44/6988c18397cdff35fe6b019f/mountain-stream.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4256 og:image:height: 2394 og:image:alt: Moss waterfalls og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Nature Sounds Help You Relax twitter:description: They reduce the body’s fight-or-flight instinct twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc56bdd25ad450b44/6988c18397cdff35fe6b019f/mountain-stream.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Nature Sounds Help You Relax > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Amanda MacMillan / Health.com](https://time.com/author/health-com/) ## Amanda MacMillan / Health.com Contributor Apr 5, 2017 5:00 PM UTC  This place, Moss waterfall valley in Mugeon-ri, Dogye county, SamCheok city, is very famous for Korean landscape photographers. However it is not easy to go there because it located very deep inside of high mountains. And it is not easy to find. So that it can keep virgin forest environment. This place, Moss waterfall valley in Mugeon-ri, Dogye county, SamCheok city, is very famous for Korean landscape photographers. However it is not easy to go there because it located very deep inside of high mountains. And it is not easy to find. So that it can keep virgin forest environment.Getty Images by [Amanda MacMillan / Health.com](https://time.com/author/health-com/) ## Amanda MacMillan / Health.com Contributor Apr 5, 2017 5:00 PM UTC You know that feeling of clear-headed calm that washes over you when you listen to water babbling down a stream, or leaves rustling in the wind? Researchers say they’ve pinpointed a scientific explanation for why sounds from nature have such a restorative effect on our psyche: According to a new study, they physically alter connections in the brain, reducing the body’s natural fight-or-flight instinct. Natural sounds and green environments have been linked with relaxation and well-being for hundreds of years, of course. But the new research, published in the journal _Scientific Reports,_ is the first to use brain scans, heart-rate monitors and behavioral experiments to suggest a physiological cause for these effects. To investigate the connection between [the brain, the body and background noise](http://www.nature.com/articles/srep45273), researchers at Brighton and Sussex Medical School in England recruited 17 healthy adults to receive functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans while listening to a series of five-minute soundscapes of natural and manmade environments. During each soundscape, participants also performed a task to measure their attention and reaction time. Their heart rates were monitored as well, to indicate changes in their autonomic nervous systems—the system of organs involved in involuntary processes such as breathing, blood pressure, temperature, metabolism, and digestion. When they studied the fMRI results, the researchers noticed that activity in the brain’s default mode network—an area involved in mind wandering and “task-free” states of wakefulness—varied depending on the background sounds being played. Specifically, listening to artificial sounds was associated with patterns of inward-focused attention, while nature sounds prompted more external-focused attention. Inward-focused attention can include worrying and rumination about things specific to one’s self—patterns that have been linked to conditions involving psychological [stress](http://www.health.com/stress) (including [depression](http://www.health.com/depression), [anxiety](http://www.health.com/anxiety), and post-traumatic stress disorder). Participants’ reaction times were slower when they listened to artificial sounds compared to natural ones, as well. Slight differences in heart rate were also detected, indicating a shift in the body’s autonomic nervous system response. Overall, nature sounds were associated with a decrease in the body’s sympathetic response (which causes that “fight-or-flight” feeling) and an increase in parasympathetic response—the one that helps the body relax and function in normal circumstances, and is sometimes referred to as the “rest-digest” response. Those results weren’t the same for everyone, though: People who started the study with the highest sympathetic responses (suggesting high levels of stress) registered the biggest relaxation benefits from the nature clips. People who started with low levels of sympathetic response, on the other hand, actually had a slight increase when listening to natural versus artificial sounds. Lead author Cassandra Gould van Praag, PhD, a research fellow at the University of Sussex, says the study’s findings may have real-world impacts—especially for people with [high stress levels](http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20409593,00.html). “I would definitely recommend a walk in natural surroundings to anyone, whether they’re currently feeling frazzled or not,” she told _Health_ via email. “Even a few minutes of escape could be beneficial.” Gould van Praag says the research has inspired her to get outdoors for breaks or listen to nature sounds using an app throughout her workday. “I really did find the downloaded tracks helpful for those times when I couldn’t get away from my desk,” she says. (She adds that it took some time to find an app that was right for her, so she doesn’t recommend rushing into any software or [noise-machine](http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20961823,00.html) purchases without trying them first.) Once you settle on a nature sound you find pleasant, Gould van Praag says it may also help improve your focus and concentration. In the study, participants performed best at “attention tasks” when listening to sounds that were considered familiar, compared with unfamiliar ones. “I think this supports the importance of finding an environment or sound machine that is right for the individual,” says Gould van Praag. “Rainforest noises might only have a strong relaxing effect if you are already very familiar with rainforests!” Finding that ideal background soundscape could potentially help to promote better rest, as well. “Poor sleep causes autonomic stress (the fight-or-flight response), and autonomic stress causes poor sleep,” she says. “This would suggest that anything which can reduce the fight-or-flight response may be beneficial to improved quality of [sleep](http://www.health.com/sleep).” Minimizing manmade noise—like street traffic—may also be helpful, she adds. _This_ [_article_](http://www.health.com/stress/why-nature-sounds-are-relaxing) _originally appeared on_ [_Health.com_](http://health.com/?xid=time) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4727058/nature-sounds-relaxation-stress/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4727058/nature-sounds-relaxation-stress/"},"headline":"Why Nature Sounds Help You Relax","datePublished":"2017-04-05T17:00:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:13:51.555Z","description":"According to a new study, the sounds of nature alter connections in our brains, reducing the body’s natural fight-or-flight instinct","url":"https://time.com/4727058/nature-sounds-relaxation-stress/","keywords":["Research"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc56bdd25ad450b44/6988c18397cdff35fe6b019f/mountain-stream.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Amanda MacMillan / Health.com"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc56bdd25ad450b44/6988c18397cdff35fe6b019f/mountain-stream.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Moss waterfalls","caption":"Moss waterfalls","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4727058/nature-sounds-relaxation-stress/","name":"Why Nature Sounds Help You Relax"}}]}] ```