How being in nature can help you adjust to the changing seasons

This week on Radio 3 Unwind, Dr. Sian Williams is exploring the changing of the seasons in a series of nature-focused specials, featuring tips and insights from Professor Catherine Loveday about the effects of nature on the brain.

Throughout the week Sian is taking Classical Unwind to different locations around the UK, and we hear her experiences walking through beautiful gardens, forests, grounds and cliffs, alongside calming and reflective music inspired by the ever-changing natural world.

The week takes her from Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire to Hole Park in Kent, Pulborough Brooks in West Sussex, Mottisfont in Hampshire, and the King Charles III England Coast Path.

Sian says: “Every season brings something new with it, encouraging us to adjust along with it. After the dark of winter, when spring arrives it can feel sudden, lots of change in colour. And then summer with long hot days, and autumn when nature turns back in on itself and prepares to hunker down. Each time of year invites us to go with its unique rhythm, and if we lean into its shifts and flow with it, it can steady us and offer us a place of reflection, or energise and inspire us.”

Neuropsychologist Professor Catherine Loveday has some insights on how leaning into nature can help you adjust as the days grow darker and colder. Read on to explore some fascinating insights into the human brain.

Catherine: There's an absolute abundance of evidence that nature is good for us. For example, one study showed that people who were asked to engage with nature every day for a month showed significant increases in happiness. Exposure to green and blue spaces has also been linked with better physical and mental health, better memory, lower stress, stronger immunity, and even improved mortality. Just hearing nature sounds can have a significant impact on mood and cognition.

One theory is that in nature we experience what's described as 'soft fascination'. This is a feeling of being drawn in by lots of natural predictable patterns that are compelling and beautiful but not too demanding, much like a gentle piece of repetitive music. Studies have shown that these benefits occur all the year round.

Researchers in Canada specifically looked at the benefits of 10 minutes of nature in both autumn and winter, and they found very clear improvements in mood. So the moral of the story is that we should try our best not to lose contact with nature, even when it does get cold or rainy, because it really can boost our wellbeing.

Catherine: There are a number of experiments showing that spending time near trees can quickly reduce heart rate and release muscle tension. And in fact, even just being able to see trees from a window can reduce feelings of mental fatigue. Even more interestingly, hospital patients with views of trees often require fewer painkillers and have demonstrably faster recovery times.

I think our psychology also benefits from observing the way that trees can change with the seasons. The emergence of fresh green leaves and blossoms as we enter spring always fills me with feelings of hope and progress. And the falling of leaves in autumn is a reminder of the inherent need for rest in all forms of life. Just like music, we can sometimes find comfort in repeated cycles and gentle variation. It helps us to recognise the fluidity and movement of life.

Catherine: It turns out that we can learn a lot about the brain from these little motifs that birds sing. Each bird has its own very specific and identifiable melodies, which is why simply by listening we can tell the difference between, say, a blackbird and a chaffinch.

Typically, these tunes remain pretty static once they've been learned. But there do seem to be seasonal variations. For example, some birds sing more in the spring than the winter, and there may be subtle changes to the timing and pitch. This is a direct and simple marker that the brain is also changing, becoming more adaptable and malleable.

Early research suggests that the brains of other animals, including humans, may also respond to seasonal variation. This in turn may explain why some people are happier at different times of the year, or why our immune system may vary. In a nutshell, birdsong is not just lovely to listen to, it also provides a relatively simple model for how the brain adapts and learns across the seasons.

Catherine: I spent a number of years investigating cortisol and melatonin. These hormones affect our health in a whole host of ways, but in particular, they help to regulate our circadian rhythm.

So, as we go through a typical day, many different chemicals and body systems ebb and flow, and this daily cycle affects how we feel and how we function. If you've ever had jet lag, then you know what it feels like when all of this goes a bit out of sync. But we can experience some of this disruption when the clocks change or as the number of daylight hours change through the seasons.

The key factor here is that both cortisol and melatonin are heavily affected by daylight. A good dose of morning light will stimulate cortisol and suppress melatonin. So a short walk outside or even a little time by a big window can work wonders, especially in the winter. It makes you feel more alert and focused in the moment, but it also resets that circadian rhythm which keeps everything else on an even keel, including the likelihood of a good night's sleep at the end of the day.

Catherine: We've known for some years that our mood and thinking abilities and even our physiology is affected by the seasons, and some people are more susceptible than others. Some researchers in Nashville, Tennessee examined data from 410 participants of the Human Connectome Project. They compared patterns of brain activity across spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Their findings suggest that overall brain performance tends to peak in the autumn season, but also, there are seasonal differences in the default mode network, which controls mind-wandering and daydreaming. It's important to remember that everyone's different and there are many other factors that can affect us, but for some, at least, it seems that the brain behaves a little differently as the seasons change.