The sounds of singing birds drifting through a leafy forest may do more than create a peaceful atmosphere; they could measurably improve mental health. A new study has found that spending just 10 minutes in a restored urban forest while listening to birdsong reduced people’s stress, increased positive emotions and made them feel more mentally refreshed than any other environment tested. The findings suggest that restoring urban forests benefits not only biodiversity but also human well-being, highlighting the growing importance of green spaces as cities continue to expand. The research, published in the journal Environmental Conservation by Cambridge University Press, was led by Dr Nils Peterson of North Carolina State University, alongside Lincoln R. Larson and an international team of collaborators. The study adds to growing evidence that investing in urban nature can deliver meaningful public health benefits, showing that even brief encounters with birdsong and green spaces can support mental well-being in increasingly urbanised societies. This suggests city planners might get more value from smaller, sound-rich restoration projects than from vast, silent parks, since it’s the layered experience of habitat and birdsong together that genuinely restores mental wellbeing.
Restored forests and birdsong produced the strongest psychological benefits
The researchers recruited 106 participants from North Carolina State University and exposed each person to four different combinations of landscape and sound. Participants either sat in a restored riparian forest or a nearby built-up urban area, while listening to either birdsong or traffic noise through headphones.
Image: Canva
According to the study, the combination of restored forest and birdsong consistently produced the greatest improvements across every psychological measure. Participants reported the lowest stress levels, highest positive emotions, fewest negative feelings and the strongest sense of mental restoration after experiencing both together. By contrast, sitting in an urban setting while listening to traffic noise produced the poorest outcomes across all measures. The study, titled “Both restored forest and birdsong promote psychological well-being,” found that both the surrounding environment and the soundscape independently influenced mental health, with their combined effects proving even stronger.
Why birdsong appears to make nature even more restorative
While previous research has linked both green spaces and birdsong with improved well-being, the new experiment suggests they work additively, meaning each enhances the benefits of the other.The restored forest reduced stress on its own, but adding birdsong further increased positive emotions and people’s perception that the environment was mentally restorative. The researchers suggest this supports established psychological theories, including Stress Reduction Theory and Attention Restoration Theory, which propose that natural environments help people recover from mental fatigue while reducing emotional stress.The authors also note that birdsong may be one of the most accessible aspects of nature. Unlike organised outdoor activities, simply hearing birds while sitting in a forest can provide measurable psychological benefits without specialised equipment or lengthy exposure.
Even restored forests can deliver measurable health benefits
Importantly, the forest used in the experiment was not an ancient woodland but a restored riparian forest created through ecological restoration between 2002 and 2006. The findings suggest that restored natural habitats can provide many of the same mental health benefits traditionally associated with long-established forests.The researchers argue that this strengthens the case for investing in urban ecological restoration. Beyond supporting wildlife and improving biodiversity, restored forests may also become valuable public health assets by providing residents with places that reduce stress and improve emotional well-being.
A growing case for greener cities
As cities continue to grow, opportunities to experience nature are becoming increasingly limited for many people. The study suggests that relatively small, restored green spaces, especially those that support healthy bird populations, can play an important role in improving everyday mental health.Dr Nils Peterson, Lincoln R. Larson and their co-authors conclude that restoring forests while encouraging thriving bird communities may deliver benefits that extend well beyond conservation. By combining ecological restoration with natural soundscapes, cities could simultaneously support biodiversity and create healthier, more restorative environments for the people who live there. The findings highlight that even brief moments spent in biodiverse green spaces can have a meaningful impact on psychological well-being. Together, they reinforce the idea that protecting and restoring urban nature is an investment in both environmental sustainability and public health.
