The Mental Health Benefits of Birdsong: Exploring the Science

In this episode, Drew Ackerman, also known as Scooter from Sleep With Me Podcast, shares his personal struggle to fall asleep. He has always had trouble calming his mind, especially as a child when worries would keep him awake at night. For the show, he tried a science-backed practice to help ease stress: listening to the twitter of birds. Drew found that the recordings of birdsong reminded him of peaceful summer afternoons, transporting him to a different time and place. Research shows that different sounds can have varying effects on us, with birdsong often lowering our body’s stress responses. For Drew, this relaxation helped him become sleepier.

Today’s guests include Drew Ackerman, the host of Sleep with Me podcast, which is one of the most popular sleep podcasts. Drew, or “Scooter,” aims to help others fall asleep with his meandering bedtime stories that are designed to lose your interest. Emil Stobbe, a post-doctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany, and Jesper Alvarsson, a professor of Psychology at Södertörn University in Sweden, also join the discussion. Eleanor Ratcliffe, a professor of Environmental Psychology at the University of Surrey in the UK, contributes her expertise as well.

For more episodes like this one, listeners can check out “The Science of a Good Night’s Sleep” and “Why You Should Snap Pictures of Nature.” These episodes explore different ways to appreciate the outdoors and improve sleep quality. Other related Happiness Breaks, short guided practices by The Science of Happiness, include “Restore Through Silence” and “Feeling the Awe of Nature from Anywhere” with Tricia Hersey and Dacher Keltner, respectively.

Listeners are encouraged to share what sounds relax them by sending recordings to happinesspod@berkeley.edu or using the hashtag #happinesspod. Additionally, leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and sharing the show with others can help spread the word about The Science of Happiness.

A transcription of the episode will be available soon.