Is natural therapy not for everyone?

City life is exhausting. The brain constantly keeps us in suspense: it has to monitor the movement of cars on the road, listen to the phone or radio, process information from billboards (even if unnecessary). Psychologists and doctors advise getting out into nature more often to recover from sensory overload. But how radical does the detachment from civilization have to be in order to be useful? Is it absolutely necessary to go for a week to a deep forest, where you can't catch a mobile phone? Or is it enough weekends spent at a dacha in the suburbs? or you can watch Youtube storm sounds

The answer to this question is not as simple as it seems. Psychologists Kevin Newman and Merrie Brucks have found that the calming effects of wildlife are not for everyone. Those who were born and raised in the city may experience stress from severe sensory deprivation - in a situation when the noise level around is lower than usual, and the eyes cannot focus on familiar images.

The researchers asked volunteers to complete the Eysenck test, a twelve-item questionnaire widely used to measure neuroticism. He assesses the presence in a person of such qualities as anxiety, a tendency to over-analysis, envy, loneliness. Before the start of the test, some participants were shown pictures of a rural landscape, others - urban landscapes.

Contrary to expectations, it turned out that situations associated with increased anxiety seemed more reassuring to people with a high degree of neuroticism. Newman and Brooks decided to test this guess and invited the participants in the experiment to listen to the sound of the surf, which was replaced by car horns. It turned out that the subjects did not find the sounds of beeps annoying. On some, they even had a calming effect.

Does this mean that each of us is a prisoner of his own environment and can live comfortably only in familiar conditions? “It's true that we feel good about familiar sounds and images,” explains Newman. - But not always and not for everyone the city is associated with endless noise and bustle, as well as village life - with silence and leisurely. A person with a high degree of neuroticism can enjoy being in nature. But for him, the ideal vacation should include more familiar elements. 

How do you get the most out of your vacation? First of all - evaluate your character, your habits. Find the balance between noise and silence that's right for you. A resident of a metropolis does not have to leave kilometers from the city, settle in a lonely hut in the mountains, or wander through the forest. Someone will find it useful to just go to the park near the seething highways. And someone will find peace in a small bookstore or a cozy cafe, where you can slowly watch the cars flashing outside the window.

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