Ep.43 How Nature's Sights & Sounds Regulate Your Nervous System with Lizzie Shutt

In this Nature Series on The Bonded Podcast, Lizzie takes the episode outside — literally. Recording from her Florida backyard, surrounded by cicadas, wind, and bird song, she explores what sound and sight actually do to our bodies, our nervous systems, and our capacity to heal. From the womb to the wild, this episode is part science, part philosophy, and part prescription to get outside!

In this epsiode Lizzie explores:

• Hearing as the first sense we develop in utero, our nervous systems are already learning to read safety and threat through sound.
• Noise pollution is a public health issue: chronic exposure to man-made noise has been linked to elevated blood pressure, impaired memory, and increased hyperactivity in children.
• Bird song is ancient medicine: a 2022 King's College London study found that hearing or seeing birds improved mental well-being for up to eight hours — even in people with depression.
• What we see heals us too: patients with tree-view hospital windows went home sooner, needed less pain medication, and recovered faster than those facing a brick wall.
• Green views build community — apartments with more natural views had up to 56% fewer violent crimes, and residents reported stronger trust and belonging.
• The prescription is 20 minutes: sitting or walking in a nature-adjacent space is enough to produce the greatest measurable drop in cortisol.
• And the big question: if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it — does it make a sound? Lizzie has an answer.

If this episode resonated, try this week's eco-mindfulness invitation: go outside, close your eyes and just listen — then plug your ears and just look — then let both senses come together. Your ears were built for this before you were even born.