Simply watching videos of natural environments can significantly reduce physical pain, according to groundbreaking research that reveals how our brains process pain differently when exposed to nature.
In a study published in Nature Communications, neuroscientists from the University of Vienna discovered that participants experiencing acute pain reported less discomfort while viewing nature scenes compared to urban or indoor environments. More surprisingly, brain scans showed actual changes in pain-processing neural activity.
“Pain processing is a complex phenomenon,” explains study lead and doctoral student Max Steininger from the University of Vienna. His team used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to observe brain activity while participants in pain watched different video scenes.
The results showed not just subjective reports of reduced pain during nature exposure, but objective changes in neural activity in regions specifically associated with pain processing.
Unlike previous studies on pain relief methods, this research identified that nature affects pain at a fundamental neurological level. “Pain is like a puzzle, made up of different pieces that are processed differently in the brain,” Steininger explains. “Some pieces of the puzzle relate to our emotional response to pain, such as how unpleasant we find it. Other pieces correspond to the physical signals underlying the painful experience.”
What makes this finding particularly significant is how it differs from placebo effects, which typically alter only our emotional response to pain. “Unlike placebos, which usually change our emotional response to pain, viewing nature changed how the brain processed early, raw sensory signals of pain,” says Steininger. “The effect appears to be less influenced by participants’ expectations, and more by changes in the underlying pain signals.”
Professor Claus Lamm, who headed the research group, notes that while previous research had established that people report feeling less pain in natural environments, the mechanism behind this phenomenon remained unclear. “Our study suggests that the brain reacts less to both the physical source and the intensity of the pain,” Lamm explains.
The international team, which included researchers from the Universities of Exeter and Birmingham in the UK and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany, represents the first collaboration between neuroscientists and environmental psychologists on this topic at the University of Vienna.
This interdisciplinary approach has yielded findings with potentially wide-ranging applications. The fact that simply watching nature videos was enough to trigger pain relief suggests that actual physical presence in natural environments may not be necessary to gain benefits.
This could have significant implications for pain management strategies in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and even home-based care. Virtual nature experiences—through videos or virtual reality—could provide accessible pain relief options for people with mobility limitations or those in settings where access to outdoor environments is limited.
The research team suggests that nature-based therapeutic approaches could become valuable complementary treatments for pain management, offering a non-pharmaceutical option with few side effects.
Both Lamm and fellow researcher Mathew White are members of the University of Vienna’s Environment and Climate Research Hub (ECH), which brings together researchers from diverse disciplines to address pressing environmental challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss.
As healthcare providers increasingly seek integrative approaches to pain management that reduce reliance on medications, this research offers promising evidence for nature-based interventions that are both effective and accessible.
The study adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that our disconnection from natural environments in modern urban settings may have previously unrecognized consequences for physical health and pain perception—and that reconnecting with nature, even virtually, could offer significant therapeutic benefits.
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