How Viewing Nature Can Support Wellbeing
When you can’t get out into nature, bring nature into your day.
A nature-viewing break can be more than a beautiful pause. Research suggests that watching nature imagery can help people feel more relaxed and restored. For people whose schedules, surroundings, or mobility limit time outdoors, nature films offer another way to enjoy beautiful landscapes.
What the research tells us
Feeling restored after a workday break
In a 2022 study, 39 office workers took repeated 15-minute breaks watching forest or water videos with natural sound, listening to nature sounds alone, or sitting quietly. The video-and-sound sessions produced greater reported feelings of restoration than the other conditions. This was a small study of generally healthy workers; it does not establish the same effects for every audience.
Read Ojala and colleagues’ study (2022)
Nature videos and perceived relaxation
In a study of 24 participants, silent nature videos were rated as more relaxing than urban or abstract videos. Researchers also observed differences in brain activity, but did not find a significant improvement in the working-memory task. The clearest everyday takeaway is the participants’ experience of relaxation.
Read Grassini and colleagues’ study (2022)
A change of scene when you’re indoors
A study of 96 adults compared coral-reef experiences on an ordinary HD television and in two forms of virtual reality after a boredom-inducing task. Boredom and negative feelings declined in all three groups. Interactive VR produced a larger improvement in positive feelings than television. Because there was no quiet-break or non-nature comparison, the study cannot separate nature’s effect from taking an enjoyable break.
Read Yeo and colleagues’ study (2020)
Awe, beauty, and wonder
Nature imagery can also invite a sense of awe. In an experiment using still photographs, extraordinary natural landscapes elicited more awe and greater immediate mood improvement than everyday nature or neutral objects. They also elicited more fear, reminding us that a dramatic scene and a gentle one can feel different to different viewers. This was a study of photographs, not films or a clinical treatment.
Read Joye and Bolderdijk’s study (2015)
A thoughtful view of the evidence
Results vary with the scene, sound, setting, and person. A 2026 study of 164 adults found that nature videos were remembered as more restorative than indoor scenes, but did not find significant benefits on its planned measures of immediate stress response and recovery. Feeling restored and demonstrating a measurable physiological change are different findings.
Read the 2026 study on nature videos and acute stress
The studies above evaluated other imagery and viewing conditions, not NatureStream.tv. Videos, photographs, virtual reality, and being outdoors are different experiences. These findings support exploring nature imagery as an enjoyable part of everyday wellbeing—not a medical treatment or a replacement for outdoor time. There is no prescribed viewing duration.
Find a view that feels right for you
Flowing water, sunlit forests, mountain landscapes, and ocean shores—choose a scene you enjoy, set the sound to a comfortable level, and take a little time for yourself.
For organizations, our commercial full-library subscription offers a variety of films in 4K and HD, with delivery and licensing tailored to your screens, locations, or service.
Selected research reviewed September 15, 2026. This page is an introduction, not a comprehensive review of the literature.