Positive Effects on Emotional Stress and Sleep Quality of Forest Healing Program for Exhausted Medical Workers during the COVID-19 Outbreak

Abstract

This study targeted medical workers, who are currently being subjected to an excessive workload and emotional stress during the COVID-19 outbreak. Various treatment programs, such as a relaxation program to relieve stress, a walk in the forest, and woodworking were provided to the participants as forest healing therapies. We enrolled 13 medical workers (11 females, 2 males). Before and after forest healing therapy, stress and sleep-related questionnaires and levels of salivary cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), and melatonin were measured and compared. The improvement of the perceived stress scale and the decrease of DHEA-S, a stress index, showed statistically significant results. However, although this study was conducted with a small number of participants and has a limitation in that the therapy occurred over a short period of only 1 night and 2 days, the trend of supporting results remains positive. As such, the authors propose forest healing therapy as one intervention to relieve the job stress for this group of workers

Natural environments, psychosocial health, and health behaviors in a crisis – A scoping review of the literature in the COVID-19 context

“…Private green spaces contributed more to the reduction of anxiety and fear than the public green spaces. Kim, Choi, and Kim (2022) , Korea Medical workers (13, 42.23 ± 10.99 years, 85%, n.a.) November 2021 Experimental, longitudinal, quantitative, survey + physiological parameter assessment Investigate effects of a forest healing program on health during COVID-19 Forest healing therapy Two-day forest treatment program with various components, e.g., a walk in the forest, woodworking, and relaxation program Stress Sleep quality Perceived stress scale (PSS) Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) Stanford sleepiness scale (SSS) Pittsburgh Sleep Questionnaire Index (PSQI) Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS) Somatization symptoms (KSCL95) Salivary cortisol Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) Melatonin There was an improvement in sleep duration from prior to post-treatment (+41.54 ± 46.70 minutes, p < 0.05) as well as in perceived stress (−2.69 ± 3.73, p < 0.05) and in dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (−1.42 ± 2.07, p < 0.05), indicating that some sleep and stress parameters improved.…”

Efek Forest Healing terhadap Psikologi Perasaan Wisatawan

“…Forest healing merupakan bentuk pemanfaatan hutan sebagai media untuk penyembuhan yang terkait dengan aspek fisiologis maupun mental. Istilah yang berkembang juga sangat bervariasi diantaranya forest bathing (mandi hutan), forest walking (berjalan di hutan), forest therapy (terapi hutan), serta sedikit yang menggunakan istilah nature therapy (terapi alam) (Kim et al, 2022;Satyawan et al, 2022).…”

“…Aktivitas dilakukan melalui pengaturan napas dan pemfokusan pikiran dengan cara menenangkan diri dan berdiam di suatu tempat. Meditasi pernapasan dan pikiran terbukti dapat meningkatkan daya tahan, mengatasi stres dan depresi, serta meningkatkan kualitas hidup (Han & Koo, 2018), mengurangi stress (Kim & Choi, 2021), serta mengurangi emosional dan peningkatan kualitas tidur (Kim et al, 2022). Kegiatan berendam dilakukan dengan memasukan tubuh ke dalam badan air sungai.…”

Effects of forest environment (Shinrin-yoku/Forest bathing) on health promotion and disease prevention —the Establishment of “Forest Medicine”—

“…My research team found that Shinrin-yoku significantly increase serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) levels [ 29 ]. On the other hand, Kim et al [ 54 ] reported that a Forest Healing Program in a Korean forest reduced DHEA-S levels. Therefore, the effect of forest bathing on DHEA-S needs further research.…”

“…In fact, my research team has found that virtual exposure to forest environments based on audio-visual stimuli brought by a short computer video showing forest environments, with an urban video as a control showed effective to reduce negative emotions such as anxiety in people forced by lockdown in limited spaces in Italy during COVID-19 pandemic [ 62 ]. Kim et al also reported the positive effects of a Forest Healing Program in a Korean forest on motional stress and sleep quality for exhausted medical workers during the COVID-19 Outbreak in Korea [ 54 ]. Therefore, Shinrin-yoku may have preventive effect on COVID-19-induced mental stress and mental disorders.…”