Bird Song as a Natural Stress Reliever

Sirens, cars rhythmically booming with music, thundering trucks, beeping cell phones, humming air conditioners, jack hammers pounding away at the pavement, city life is full of noise. Even in our insulated homes and offices, we are bombarded with sounds that jar our nerves like blaring television or radio commercials screaming for our attention or the decibels of our neighbor’s boom box playing music not quite to our taste. All of these things work to increase our stress levels in an already challenging world. But they also drown out the sounds that could be the most healing to our senses, the sounds of nature and even more specifically bird songs.

Natural sounds are soothing. We all love to listen to the whooshing of ocean waves gently rolling onto white sandy beaches or the gentle tapping of rain on the roof as we lay snuggled in bed. These sounds can help us relax and relieve stress. But on a day to day basis, a lack of connection to natural sounds can increase our stress levels and affect our health. Over the centuries, our autonomic nervous systems have been honed to recognize signals of safety and danger in the world around us. These signals are often rooted in natural sounds or events. For example, if a dog growls at us, our bodies immediately go on alert to potential attack and we feel fear. Or if we are in a dark place and hear movement behind us, instantaneously our bodies tell us to be wary. This is a natural response that has developed from living for centuries in areas where there were wild animals or threats to our well being. Humans, plants, animals and birds have all evolved together, but as the noise levels in our cities grow, our awareness of the natural sounds around us is being lost and increasing our stress levels.

We have all heard the idiomatic term “the calm before the storm…” But what does it have to do with our anxiety and bird song? If we were to find ourselves in a natural setting like a park or a forest, or even our own backyards on a nice day, we would hear lots of sounds. The birds would be chirping and singing, and we would hear the sounds of various insects or frogs calling to each other. While for the most part we tune these sounds out, our bodies are hardwired to recognize them as indicators that all is well and that we are safe. Our anxiety levels drop when we hear the birds singing. However, if a storm is approaching or there is danger in the area, birds and insects often stop communicating and there is silence, or the “calm before the storm.” That absence of bird song is a signal to our autonomic nervous systems that there is danger and that we must be on alert. When bird sounds are missing from our lives, our primal nervous systems recognize that absence as potential danger and we can often have a sense of uneasiness without knowing why. However overcoming this uneasiness is easy. We need only to begin to listen to the birds on a regular basis.

How do we do that? First, we can start by turning off the cell phone, television or radio and allowing ourselves to just sit down and relax and begin to see how many sounds we can hear in the outside world. Just take a few minutes and allow your mind to roam in all directions seeing what it can hear. When you tune into the birds, just let your mind rest on that sound. You'll be surprised at how it helps you calm down. Secondly, we can bring the birds closer to us by putting a bird feeder on the porch or in the yard or by planting things in our gardens that attract them. Sitting next to a window watching the birds eat and hearing them chatter is a great stress buster. Last, but certainly not least, during our free time, we can treat ourselves to a natural spa treatment by going to a place in nature and just listening, even our backyards or balconies are a wonderful place to start….The birds are there still singing to our internal selves their message of safety and love. Let’s tune in to their songs.