It is probably no surprise to hear further proof that the environment that we are in affects our mood and mental state.
Humans can withstand a lot and are generally pretty resilient creatures, but we’re also often a bit more sensitive and vulnerable than many of us would like to admit.
I always talk about the importance of knowing our vulnerabilities. If we don’t know what we are vulnerable to, if we don’t know the limits of our ability to absorb external stressors, then we are most likely not living within our own reality.
As I discuss in this article, I cannot understate the importance of understanding and working within your realities, the not to be overstated importance of knowing ‘You’ and how you work.
If you don’t know yourself (up and down and left and right, as best you can) you most likely can’t be best prepared for the effects of external factors.
A great example of how our environment (an external factor) can affect us has been further highlighted by a new study conducted in the UK which determined stress and anxiety effects of manmade sounds such as vehicle traffic.
Existing research shows that natural sounds, like birdsong, can lower blood pressure, heart, and respiratory rates, as well as self-reported stress and anxiety.
However, the improved moods started to diminish in study participants as soon as traffic sounds were included.
Sixty-eight student volunteers listened to three 3-minute soundscapes: a nature soundscape, the same soundscape combined with 20-mile-per-hour road traffic sounds, and the same soundscape with 40-mile-per-hour traffic sounds.
Using self-reported scales, the participant’s general mood diminished and anxiety levels increased as the manmade sounds became more prominent.
“Our study shows that listening to natural soundscapes can reduce stress and anxiety, and that anthropogenic sounds such as traffic noise can mask potential positive impacts.” – study authors Paul Lintott of the University of the West of England and Lia Gilmour of the Bat Conservation Trust.
So, what can we take from this study? Firstly, it is again clear to see that there are benefits to our mental well-being by spending time in nature.
Second, don’t discount how the environment that we are experiencing can have a clear and direct effect on our state of mind.
Lastly, what are we doing as individuals through our attitudes and behaviours to the mental well-being of the people around us? After all, we are an extremely large part of their World and their experience too.
