Experiencing Nature Both in Reality and Virtually Could Ease Pain

More studies are exposing that nature can soothe the mind and body, but new research shows that idyllic outdoor scenes may also soothe a more visceral type of pain.

“From past studies we know that being in contact with nature is associated with this very broad range of beneficial effects for human physical and mental health,” says Maximilian Steininger, an environmental neuroscientist at the University of Vienna.

But since this past research relied on participants self-reporting their pain, there were potential biases. It was difficult to tell if nature was causing a kind of placebo effect — a purely psychological effect — or whether pain was quantitatively reduced. To understand this better, in a study published recently in Nature Communications, Steininger and his colleagues first had to determine a way to measure pain.

The team found several dozen paid volunteers and administered shocks to their hands in increasing intensity — Steininger self-administered the test a few times to make sure it worked. Once a participant described a shock level as painful but bearable, researchers would dial the intensity back a few notches and work with that level for the rest of the experiment.

Since it wasn’t practical to get an MRI machine out into the middle of a forest, the team had to bring the forest into the MRI machine. They put screens inside the machines that showed three different types of images. In one, images showed an idyllic nature scene of a lake surrounded by trees and grasslands, with mountains in the background. A corresponding soundtrack played birdsongs, wind and the sound of rippling water as a time lapse sped over the landscape from sunrise through midday to sunset.

Another scene also had a lake but added city skyscrapers and garbage cans. The soundtrack played city sounds like construction work and other human noise while the sun made the same trajectory as in the nature video.

Finally, a third video showed an office desk scene, with noises from things like computers and office fans. This allowed them to test any differences between two types of scenes perceived as non-natural.

As participants watched these videos, the researchers administered shocks to their hands — both painful and non-painful, the latter as a control experiment.

Read More: The Mental and Physical Benefits of Getting Outdoors

Previous research has identified how pain and the brain are connected. Pain exists as a type of signal that our bodies send to our brains to alert us of threats. If you grab a hot pan, for example, your hand will send nociceptive signals — those dealing with pain — to your brain so you realize you should probably let it go.

These signals affect different parts of the brain. The MRI machine monitored which parts of the brain were activated in the study, and how much, as volunteers were shocked during the experiments, to determine how much pain they were feeling.

The results revealed that volunteers watching the indoor and city scenes didn’t have different responses to pain.

But those watching the nature scene experienced a reduced neural response to painful shocks. Especially those parts of the brain associated with receiving nociceptive information.

“The processing of this signal was changed when watching nature,” Steininger says.

This result surprised Steininger, who had assumed that the decreased pain reported by people in previous studies was mostly due to a kind of placebo effect. Previous research had shown that these pain signals were not reduced in the brain when researchers gave placebo pain pills, for example.

“We didn’t find [a placebo effect] — we found the exact oppositive,” he says. “It’s not in line with what we know from placebo analgesia.”

Read More: Why Does Pain Hurt?

It’s difficult to say exactly why natural scenes can decrease pain, but Steininger has a few theories.

One theory is that nature promotes emotional well-being, helping people experience less stress and allow them to relax more.

Another theory contends that different features in nature, such as the pattern of leaf shadows moving on the forest floor under the sunlight, provide stimuli that is interesting but not overly demanding for humans. It captures enough of our mind’s focus, allowing us to concentrate less on other signals.

“In line with that theory, my suggestion would be that what was seen here was a very pronounced distraction effect,” Steininger says.

In some ways, this is like the kind of pain tolerance sometimes practiced by Buddhist monks though meditation or other methods.

“What we see here is very similar to what we see in mindfulness research on pain,” Steininger says.

The results of this study and other similar research have practical applications for pain treatment in hospitals — which can be noisy places filled with bright, blinking lights not conducive to pain reduction.

Building hospitals in more natural settings might help patients experience less pain, along with incorporating natural features into hospital design. But, as Steininger’s research shows, virtual nature can also be helpful — especially when immersive.

He thinks that the nature scenes shown on screens were effective in the MRI machines because patients didn’t have anything else to pay attention to. Hospitals may take advantage of this knowledge by using virtual reality to help patients experience nature.

“Environmental aspects are important, and they should be considered when we talk about approaches to pain management, or when we talk about how healthcare facilities can be designed,” Steininger says.

Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:

• Nature Communications. Nature exposure induces analgesic effects by acting on nociception-related neural processing

• Nature Communications. Placebo treatment affects brain systems related to affective and cognitive processes, but not nociceptive pain

• The American Journal of Psychiatry. Neural Signatures of Pain Modulation in Short-Term and Long-Term Mindfulness Training: A Randomized Active-Control Trial

Joshua Rapp Learn is an award-winning D.C.-based science writer. An expat Albertan, he contributes to a number of science publications like National Geographic, The New York Times, The Guardian, New Scientist, Hakai, and others.