Spending time in nature is not only good for the psyche, but also reduces acute physical pain, as a study shows. Accordingly, the natural experiences inhibit pain processing in the brain. Unlike Placebos, however, “green medicine” does not reduce pain evaluation, but the pain triggers. This effect occurs even in virtual nature. We do not have to force out, but can also watch natural videos to relieve our pain, reports the team in “Nature Communications”.
Whether in parks, forests or by the sea – to stay outside – can be demonstrably reduced. The sounds, colors and smells of nature have a relaxing and calming effect on us. In addition, nature is apparently painful. “From a current study, we know that people reliably feel less pain or report on natural environments,” reports senior author Claus Lamm from the University of Vienna. “So far, however, it was unclear why that is.”
In a second study, researchers around lamb and first author Maximilian from the University of Vienna have examined how nature experiences alleviate acute physical pain in a second study. For this purpose, the neuroscientists administered 49 test subjects more or less painful electric shocks and at the same time recorded their brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI). They also asked the test subjects about their subjective pain perception on a scale from zero to eight. However, the participants did not actually stay outside in nature, but each watched a video and sound. One of the three test videos showed a scene in the great outdoors, the other two a neutral office space and a stressful urban scene.
Already nature works by video
The evaluation showed that when looking at the natural video, the subjects rated acute pain as less intense and unpleasant than looking at the two comparison scenes. The brain scans also revealed that some of the areas in the brain associated with pain were less active when looking at nature. These include the thalamus, the secondary somatosensory cortex (S2) and the rear island bark (pins). This suggests that pain relief is not an imagination, but a real effect as a result of the distraction. But how does he come about?
“Pain processing is composed of individual parts like a puzzle, which are processed differently in the brain. Some pieces of the puzzle determine our emotional pain reaction, for example, whether we find it unbearable. Other pieces of the puzzle affect the physical signals underlying the pain, such as information about where the pain is located in the body and how intense it is, ”explains Steininger. Placebos usually relieve pain by changing our emotional reaction to pain. This also does this, but also reduces the early, body -related pain signals in the brain, which are processed using a neuronal circuit with noci -septors, as the tests showed. “The natural effect therefore seems to have less to do with the expectations and emotions of the participants, but more with the change in underlying pain signals,” concludes Steininger. According to this, our brain actually reacts weaker to the physical trigger of the pain when looking at nature.
Walking against pain
Common pain therapies primarily include pain -relieving medication. The findings now show that nature can help relieve pain. According to this, the pills and injections could in future be sensibly supplemented by natural -based therapies. This could be medical or self -prescribed excursions to virtual nature – for example in the form of films or virtual reality. These techniques offer people a simple and low -threshold path to relieve their pain.
“It still has to be checked whether the results are transferable to real contexts,” emphasize the researchers. Follow -up studies could clarify whether walks in the great outdoors have the same or even more painful. Since such excursions appeal to more senses than videos – such as smells – it should also be clarified how nature best has its effect. “To find out which specific sensory elements and their combination make natural environments particularly effective in pain relief, further research is required,” said the team. It is also unclear whether nature can also alleviate chronic pain or only acute pain.
Sources: University of Vienna; Specialist articles: Nature Communications, DOI: 10.1038/S41467-025-56870-2