A stable beauty emanates from some natural phenomena: the monotonous, monochrome sky over the endless beach, the river meandering through the meadow landscape, but also the majestic mountain massif are enough to amaze at the sublimity of nature. Numerous enthusiasms in art, literature and music testify to the fascination that the stillness of a lake, the magic of a winter forest or a sea of blossoms can trigger.
However, these impressions are mostly based on static phenomena and the influence of such comparatively constant images on human perception has been well studied. But what, in contrast, are triggered by sudden, rapidly transient changes in nature that take place in just a day and sometimes even within a few minutes? To research this, scientists from Exeter and Vienna have examined the effects of short-term natural events and analyzed how people react to such ephemeral phenomena.
in the Journal of Environmental Psychology Alexander Smalley and Mathew White show that one Sense of wonder and perception of beauty especially from sunrises and sunsets can be triggered, while thunderstorms, rainbows and rapid darkness do not have this effect. Astonishment does not usually come so quickly in everyday life, but it is known that this rare sensation goes hand in hand with a number of health-promoting properties. Those who are amazed are almost always in a better mood, more inclined to prosocial behavior such as sympathy and other positive emotions also come more easily. “It may be worth getting up early for a sunrise or planning a walk to catch the sunset,” Smalley said in a press release from his university. “The wow factor that comes with such experiences allows one to experience beauty and wonder – which in turn has a positive impact on mental well-being.”
Horrible pictures trigger more cold sores
It’s never too late to learn to be amazed. San Francisco aging researchers showed in 2020 that Seniors are less anxious about the future, less stressed and other negative feelings, if they are aware of their surroundings during a 15-minute walk every day and allow themselves to be amazed – by paying attention to the spectacle offered by the colors of nature, the leaves under their feet or the sounds of the forest. Several are now showing Studies show that forests, meadows, parklands and even green wastelands in the city have an equally strengthening and calming effect on mental health to have. Green lowers blood pressure as well as cortisol levels, which is a measure of stress. Actually, nature should be prescribed on prescription, which is why some doctors and psychologists are demanding.
Amazement at nature and the calming effect of the idyll factor are likely to increase well-being – a phenomenon that has been shown in previous studies, among other things, by the fact that patients who looked out on a park from their hospital room recovered more quickly were than those who had to face a parking lot. And from studies of people with a tendency to cold sores, it is known that more of the painful blisters appeared when subjects were shown photos of unfinished washing up and cigarette butts squeezed out in leftovers than when they were shown photos of blooming flower meadows. Dennis Nowak, head of the Institute for Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of Munich, has long been a fan of such studies on real natural phenomena or their pictorial representation because they show “how easy it is sometimes to achieve health success”.
Notorious complainers can, however, drive out the amazement again – regardless of whether it is based on permanent or short-term natural phenomena. In his poem “The Fräulein stood by the sea” in 1832, Heinrich Heine reminded us that amazement or even emotion in the twilight are hardly appropriate, because the sun can be assumed to be subject to a certain repetition compulsion: “My Fräulein! be cheerful, / It’s an old piece; / She goes down here in front / And comes back from behind.”