Will doctors one day be prescribing their patients the practice of taking in sunrises or sunsets in order to boost their well-being?
The question is not as far out as one might think, because scientists have, for the first time, quantified the ‘wow’ factor of observing these natural phenomena and found that it has a positive impact on our mental wellness.
According to a University of Exeter study, published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, the effects of fleeting moments (as in a sunrise or sunset) – described as “ephemeral phenomena” – on mental health had never been measured before.
In previous studies, the effects of observing nature were essentially evaluated in the context of calm, blue skies.
But in this new study, the researchers opted to utilize the latest in computer graphics to show over 2,500 participants images of both urban and natural environments. Whenever these images included a sunrise or a sunset, the group judged them as “considerably more beautiful” in comparison to the same shot seen under sunny conditions at any other time of day.
Indeed, this watching of a sunrise in the morning or a sunset in the evening, promotes increased perceptions of natural beauty and an uptick in feelings of “awe”. And this, in turn, can potentially improve one’s mood, enhance positive social behavior, and increase positive emotions. All in all, taking a moment to appreciate the daily rhythms of our planet will help improve overall well-being.
The research team didn’t focus solely on sunrises and sunsets; they also considered rarer events, such as rainbows, thunderstorms, and starry or moonlit skies. Sure enough, all of those phenomena altered the extent to which people experienced awe and beauty in those different landscapes.
Importantly, these changes in perception led to variations in how the environments were valued. Study authors had asked participants how much they would pay to experience each digital scene in the real world.
And participants said they were willing to pay a premium of nearly 10 percent to visit the natural settings at sunrise, for example, in comparison to during the day.
The researchers noted that added value like that is usually associated with more permanent features, such as scenic lakes or historic buildings. And so, they suggest that encouraging people to experience sunrises or sunsets are likely to work as a component of “green prescribing” practices, in which nature plays a pivotal therapeutic role in mental health interventions.
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