Why Nature Documentaries Are the Best TV Shows for Your Mental Health

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Not all TV shows are created equal, especially when it comes to your mental health.

We should all be mindful of the types of media we consume on a regular basis and how it impacts our mind (including TV, movies, books, magazines, news, etc.) because everything we choose to consume on a daily basis is going to have an effect on our thoughts, feelings, and perspective in some way.

According to a new study done for The Real Happiness Project by a team of researchers at BBC Earth and the University of California, Berkeley, it was discovered that watching “nature documentaries” was one of the best types of TV shows to boost your mental health.

A survey of 7,500 people was conducted where participants were asked to view a short clip of news, a popular drama TV show, or a nature documentary.

The results showed that those who watched the short clip of the nature documentary were more likely to report increased feelings of joy, amazement, awe, contentment, and curiosity. They also reported decreased feelings of stress, anxiety, anger, and fatigue.



Here’s a great video summary of the study along with new footage from Planet Earth 2, which was used to assess how individuals feel before and after watching nature documentaries.

As the video mentions, there are already countless studies that show how spending more time in nature is good for your mental health.

Just a few examples of nature improving your mental health include one study that showed nature walks can reduce symptoms of depression, another study that bird-watching from home can reduce stress and anxiety, and another study that found even just listening to “nature sounds” can put us into a more relaxed and comfortable state.

Knowing all of this, it’s not too surprising to see similar effects when individuals are simply watching a nature documentary on their TV, phone, computer, or tablet.

In fact, I’ve recently been watching the new Planet Earth 2 series and it has been tremendously uplifting and inspirational to me. I love finding out how different the lives of animals can be from one species to the next, how each species has adapted to its particular environment in different ways, and what these animals need to do to survive.

One of my favorite segments from the documentary looked at one of the largest penguin colonies that exist in the world on a remote island called Zavodovski Island. When the penguins go to find food, they have to dive into this viciously wild water where the waves are constantly crashing into the side of rocky cliffs.

Here’s a great picture of this amazing island (with penguins!):

Many of these penguins go through great danger to find food, often times being swept up into the waves and thrown back into the rocks. By the end of their hunt, many penguins come back with bloody limbs and scratches from their deadly pursuit.

It’s many scenes like this which make Planet Earth 2 one of the best nature documentaries ever. It will make you cry (like seeing a mother snow leopard protecting her young from aggressive males during mating season), it will make you laugh (like watching a bear dance up against a tree to scratch itself), and it will leave you in awe (like learning about a rare species of Araguaia river dolphin that exists in the jungles of Brazil).

When you watch nature documentaries like this, you can’t help but step outside of yourself and be awed by how incredible nature is. Having these moments helps us temporarily forget about our daily worries (like school, work, or family) and experience the “bigger picture” of life on this planet. It can be an enlightening change in perspective.

According to psychologist Dacher Keltner, one of the leading researchers of the study:

“I have long believed that nature and viewing sublime and beautiful nature in painting, film and video shifts how we look at the world, and humbles us, brings into focus our core goals, diminishes the petty voice of the self and strengthens our nervous system.”

To put it simply, becoming more connected with nature can really help us to put things in perspective and recognize how big life can be outside of ourselves.

So the next time you’re feeling down or you need a boost of positivity and inspiration in your life, why not turn on the National Geographic channel or watch videos of nature on YouTube?

I also highly recommend you check out the new Planet Earth 2 if you haven’t seen it already. It really is an amazing experience and easily one of my favorite documentaries of all time (along with the first one).



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