BIRDS · Everyday Energy

BIRDS

My dear friends,

It’s going to be a bit much :)

A little something about therapeutic ornithology—a subject close to my heart, both through my passion and my work.

I am sharing some scientific research regarding one of my mentors and his work on the impact of birdwatching on the brain and heart function, as well as its influence on neurotransmission.

Therapeutic ornithology goes beyond merely improving mental well-being.

"A recently published study in the *Journal of Neuroscience* (Wing et al., 2026) reveals something fascinating regarding nature observation: developing a specialized skill—such as identifying bird species—leads to measurable changes in brain structure and function.

Researchers compared bird identification experts with novices using neuroimaging techniques (MRI). They found that individuals who had cultivated this skill over years exhibited a more complex, "denser" neural tissue structure in various brain regions, as well as heightened functional activity during species identification.

These changes affected regions responsible for:

~ visual perception

~ selective attention

~ pattern recognition

~ semantic memory

The researchers termed this phenomenon the "tuned cortex." This implies that the brain gradually fine-tunes its structure and function to the information it processes most frequently. Even more interestingly, in older adults deeply engaged in this activity, the brain changes persisted despite advancing age, and the decline in structural brain parameters was slower. This is strongly linked to the concept of cognitive reserve—the brain's ability to better cope with the aging process."

my mentor ;)

https://naturallybalanced.org/en/author/slawomirmurawiec/

https://www.termedia.pl/Teaching-bird-species-recognition-may-improve-clinicians-ability-to-accurately-analyse-ECG-recordings,35,55667,0,1.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawSwodBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETBkZWlrV09waEVFNmJXa05Vc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHnUkYC4K-4azuu5UDDeMfvG7Jjt9wyZIV9kTWgZe4yVSxIj4rm8zZLoukUuA_aem_k_IGupxTGqzBi6oAVo6Ycw

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2148646/episodes/13874210-episode-9-prescriptive-nature

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/394374334_The_impact_of_therapeutic_ornithology_on_mental_well-being_in_psychiatric_long-term_care_and_psychiatric_day_clinic_patients_a_quantitative_and_qualitative_study

https://reforestation.me/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/an_ornithological_walk_to_improve_the_we.pdf

8 comments

BIRDS