Free Nature Sounds For Sleep And Relaxation

This sound is also great for anyone who gets used to the sound of their fan over the summer, but puts it away during cooler winter months. If you prefer the hard ding of a tin roof to the plunk of a tent, check out the Rain on a Tin Roof sound from Alexa. This Alexa sound offers plain, steady rain drops bouncing off the roof.

Many participants also reported decreased pain and improved mood, and they performed better on cognitive tests. Also, we thank numerous park staff and Colorado State University technicians for placing and servicing acoustic recorders and J. Job, C. White, E. Brown, D. Joyce, and Colorado State University/National Park Service acoustical technicians for analyzing acoustic data. But most of the time, in the heart of most deserts, you can hear nothing but the sound of silence. Most deserts are much hotter in daytime than at night.

In addition to being a major motivation for visiting parks , these natural soundscapes represent important resources to be protected and enhanced for both ecological and social benefits . The health benefits of exposure to nature are well documented (for a recent overview, see ref. 9). Here, we define human health broadly, encompassing physiological outcomes (e.g., stress) and potential psychological precursors along the pathway to health outcomes [e.g., preference ]. Two psychological theories explain the mechanistic basis of the restorative effects of exposure to nature , drawing heavily from the theory of evolution . Attention Restoration Theory centers on the ability of nature to replenish attention through unconscious, cognitive processes .

For the review, the researchers looked at 18 studies investigating the health benefits of natural sound; study participants listened to recordings of outdoor sounds in laboratory settings. Participants reported less stress and improved health outcomes, like decreased pain, after listening to recordings of nature sounds. Broad anthropogenic sound categories included aircraft, motorized vehicles, people talking, domestic animals, trains, and infrastructure maintenance (e.g., grounds care). We recognize that visitor conversation, laughter, and ranger interpretive sessions are intrinsic to park values and visitor experience. Yet, voices can also be noise in the context of experiencing natural sounds .

In a small 2012 study in the Journal of Theoretical Biology , researchers found that steady pink noise reduces brain waves, which increases stable sleep. A 2017 study in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience also found a positive link between pink noise and deep sleep. This recording features continuous sounds of rainfall with faint birdsong and gentle forest rustle.

The nervous system prepares to fight or flee a threatening situation by releasing the hormones Amazing views of our world cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline. These stress hormones make a good night’s sleep very difficult. Historically, soundscapes have been investigated in the context of the deleterious effects of noise . Natural soundscapes play a central role in urban environmental sustainability because they offer reduced exposure to adverse effects of noise to which urban populations are highly exposed . Thus, research increasingly focuses on evaluating the characteristics of soundscapes by quantifying their different components to manage soundscapes as a natural resource .