Watching David Attenborough documentaries just as good for self-improvement as meditation, says new study

Investitures at Windsor Castle
1/34
Patrick Grafton-Green6 February 2018

Watching a David Attenborough documentary is just as good for self-improvement as mindfulness and meditation, new research suggests.

Studies comparing such techniques with doing nothing or activities like jogging and watching television were reviewed by Miguel Farias, a psychologist at Coventry University.

He and scientists from New Zealand and the Netherlands examined 22 trials of the methods, but found no convincing evidence that they promoted open-mindedness or empathy, the Times reported.

It has been previously claimed that mindfulness, or paying full attention to the present moment, helps people attain a higher state of consciousness.

However writing in Scientific Reports, Dr Farias and colleagues said that although the methods appeared to make people feel more compassionate, there was no advantage over watching nature documentaries or other pastimes.

They also found such studies often risked bias as they were written by people who had led classes.

Dr Farias said the methods had no measurable effect beyond expectations instilled by their teachers and warned against "implicit magical beliefs" about meditation.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in