Nature gives happiness. In fact, watching documentaries made with original footage helps us live better, according to a study conducted by the BBC in collaboration with Dacher Keltner, professor at the University of California at Berkeley.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himNature gives happiness. Watching documentaries made with original footage, in fact, helps us to live better, according to a study conducted by the BBC in collaboration with Dacher Keltner, professor at theUniversity of California at Berkeley.
The research was conducted at the launch of a new BBC Earth program, 'Planet Earth II', which debuted in North America. The vision of the program seemed to arouse smiles in the audience, which prompted the broadcaster to contact the University of Berkeley, giving life to 'The Real Happiness Project', a large project of scientific data collection and sharing of experiences of happiness generated by contact with nature.
Through a technology called 'Crowd Emotion', based on facial recognition software, the research team analyzed the real-time expressions of 7.500 participants from the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia. Before and after watching a video clip from the series, volunteers were asked to complete a questionnaire about them emotional well-being.
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According to the study results, those who had watched the documentary with interest reported feelings of awe, wonder, curiosity, interest and desire to explore. Conversely, feelings of nervousness, anxiety and fear were significantly reduced.
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Downstream of this first work, Keltner then conducted a review of 150 scientific studies on relationship between emotion and nature, whose general conclusions agreed on how direct and even indirect contact with nature reduces stress, aids serenity, and improves cognitive performance.
READ also: PLANET EARTH II: THE DOCUMENTARY ON THE WONDERS OF OUR PLANET (VIDEO)
In a society that, unfortunately, does not seem to go towards nature, this may perhaps be the reason why anxiety and stress often dominate our life?
Roberta de carolis
