Feeling stressed? Try a dose of birdsong to lift the spirits. A new study shows that paying attention to the treetop melodies of our feathered friends can boost wellbeing and bring down stress levels.

Previous research has shown that people feel better in bird-rich environments, but Christoph Randler, from the University of Tübingen, and colleagues wanted to see if that warm fuzzy feeling translated into measurable physiological changes. They rigged up a park with loudspeakers playing the songs of rare birds and measured the blood pressure, heart rate and cortisol levels (a marker of stress) of volunteers before and after taking a 30-minute walk through the park. Some volunteers experienced the birdsong-enriched environment, some heard just natural birdsong, and some wore noise-cancelling headphones and heard no birdsong. Half of the recruits were asked to pay attention to the birdsong.

Reporting in Landscape and Urban Planning, the researchers found that all groups, even those wearing noise-cancelling headphones, experienced a reduction in blood pressure, heart rate and cortisol levels, demonstrating that simply going for a walk was beneficial. Adding in rare birdsong did not reduce stress more than natural birdsong but, interestingly, paying attention to birdsong did. No matter where you live, birdsong may be just what the doctor ordered.