Even virtual exposure to nature is effective in calming your brain. (Ellyy/Shutterstock)

VIENNA — Pain relief might grow on trees after all. Scientists have discovered that simply looking at natural scenes can directly reduce pain sensations by calming specific brain circuits. A new international study reveals that nature exposure goes beyond just making us feel better about pain, it actually changes how our brains process painful stimuli at a fundamental level.

“Numerous studies have shown that people consistently report feeling less pain when exposed to nature. Yet until now, the underlying reasons for this effect were unclear,” explains lead study author Max Steininger from the University of Vienna, in a statement. “Our study is the first to provide evidence from brain scans that this isn’t just a ‘placebo’ effect.”

For years, researchers have known about nature’s health benefits, from lowering stress to improving mental health. Previous studies hinted that nature might help with pain: surgery patients needed fewer painkillers when their hospital rooms had views of trees instead of brick walls, and dental patients reported less discomfort when looking at natural scenes. But these earlier studies couldn’t determine if nature was directly responsible for pain reduction or if people just thought they felt better. Now, a new study published in Nature Communications provides compelling evidence that nature exposure alters pain processing in the brain, offering a concrete explanation for its pain-relieving effects.

To get clear answers, the researchers designed a controlled experiment using brain scanning to watch brain activity during painful experiences while people viewed different environments. Forty-nine participants were placed in a brain scanner and shown virtual scenes of three different settings: a natural lake with trees, an urban setting with buildings by the same lake, and an indoor office. While viewing these scenes, participants received brief electric shocks to their hands, some painful and some not, and rated how intense and unpleasant each shock felt.

How Nature Changes Your Brain During Pain

When viewing the nature scenes, participants consistently reported lower pain compared to when they viewed urban or indoor environments. The brain scans confirmed these weren’t just subjective differences; actual pain-related brain activity decreased when participants viewed nature.

“Pain is like a puzzle with different pieces processed in different parts of the brain,” explains Steininger. “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, such as its location in the body and its intensity. Unlike placebos, which usually change our emotional response to pain, viewing nature changed how the brain processed early, raw sensory signals of pain.”

The researchers used advanced brain analysis techniques to determine which aspects of pain processing were affected by nature exposure. When participants viewed nature scenes while receiving painful stimuli, their brains showed significantly reduced activity in regions that handle the sensory and physical aspects of pain. Meanwhile, the brain patterns related to the emotional and cognitive processing of pain showed no significant differences between environments.

The researchers carefully designed their natural and urban environments with similar visual characteristics. Both included appealing elements like a large body of water and complex visual features. This careful matching means that the pain-reducing effect wasn’t simply because one environment was prettier than the other.

Interestingly, the indoor and urban environments produced similar pain ratings and brain responses, despite their differences. This suggests that the pain-reducing effect is specifically related to the presence of natural elements rather than something negative about urban environments.

“Our findings suggest that the pain-relieving effect of nature is genuine, although the effect we found was around half that of painkillers,” says Steininger. “People in pain should certainly continue taking prescribed medication. But we hope in future alternative ways of relieving pain, such as experiencing nature, may be used to help improve pain management.”

What’s particularly promising is that even virtual nature, not just actual outdoor environments, can produce these pain-reducing effects. This could be especially valuable in healthcare settings. Hospitals could incorporate nature scenes into treatment rooms, potentially reducing patients’ discomfort during procedures. For people with chronic pain, regular exposure to natural environments, whether real or virtual, might complement traditional pain management approaches.

“This study highlights how virtual encounters can bring the healing potential of nature to people when they can’t get outside,” says co-author Alex Smalley from the University of Exeter. “But we hope our results also serve as renewed evidence for the importance of protecting healthy and functioning natural environments, encouraging people to spend time in nature for the benefit of both the planet and people.”

The ancient wisdom that nature heals now has modern science to back it up. Whether it’s a forest trail, a park bench, or even a nature documentary on your screen, these findings suggest that regular doses of greenery might be a valuable addition to our pain management toolkit. These green prescriptions might be just what the doctor should be ordering.