Psychological Benefits of Walking through Forest Areas

Song, Chorong; Ikei, Harumi; Park, Bum Jin; Lee, Juyoung; Kagawa, Takahide; Miyazaki, Y.

doi:10.3390/ijerph15122804

Cited by 81 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 41 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Scores for the comfortable, relaxed, and natural parameters, as well as the vigor subscale of the POMS, were significantly higher after viewing a forest landscape than after viewing a city area, whereas the scores for the subscales for negative feelings, including tension-anxiety, depression-dejection, anger-hostility, fatigue, and confusion, were significantly lower, as was the total mood disturbance score and the STAI anxiety dimension score. These results, which demonstrate the psychological benefits of viewing a forest, are to some extent consistent with previous findings of the effects on men of viewing forest scenery or walking in forests [12,14,[50][51][52].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Physiological and Psychological Effects of Viewing Forests on Young Women

Song

Ikei

Kagawa

et al. 2019

Forests

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research Highlights: This study demonstrated that viewing forest landscapes induced physical and mental health benefits on young women. Background and Objectives: The health-promoting effects of spending time in forests have received increasing attention; however, there is a lack of evidence-based research investigating the effects of spending time in forests on women. This study aimed to evaluate the physiological and psychological effects of viewing forest landscapes on young women. Materials and Methods: The experiments were conducted in six forests and six city areas and included 65 women (mean age, 21.0 ± 1.3 years). Participants viewed a forest and a city area for 15 min, during which their heart rate variability and heart rate were measured continuously. Blood pressure and pulse rate were measured before and after the viewing. After the viewing, participants’ psychological responses were assessed using the modified semantic differential method, Profile of Mood States (POMS), and the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Results: Compared with viewing city areas, viewing forest landscapes was associated with significantly higher parasympathetic nervous activity and lower sympathetic nervous activity and heart rate. Moreover, scores of the comfortable, relaxed, and natural parameters and vigor subscales of POMS were significantly higher with forest viewing. The scores of negative feelings, such as tension–anxiety, depression–dejection, anger–hostility, fatigue, and confusion, were significantly lower, as were scores for the total mood disturbance observed using POMS and the anxiety dimension observed using STAI. Conclusions: Viewing forest landscapes resulted in physiological and psychological relaxations in young women.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Physiological and Psychological Effects of Viewing Forests on Young Women

Song

Ikei

Kagawa

et al. 2019

Forests

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As Bowler et al (5) reported, 13 studies on the effects of walking in natural environments were published between 1991 and 2008, most of which reported that nature therapy decreased negative emotions, such as anger, fatigue, and sadness, and enhanced positive emotions, such as energy. The psychological benefits of forest-walking have been supported by many subsequent studies (6,7). However, the benefits of forest-walking are not only psychological.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Combined Effect of Walking and Forest Environment on Salivary Cortisol Concentration

Kobayashi

Song

Ikei

et al. 2019

Front. Public Health

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We investigated the effects of walking in a forest environment on salivary cortisol concentrations. Seventy-four young male participants walked for 15 min in forested and urban environments, and saliva was collected before and after walking. Our previous study reported salivary cortisol concentrations after walking only. This study was aimed at clarifying the combined effects of walking and environment by comparing post-walking data with pre-walking data. Walking in a forest environment decreased mean cortisol concentration from 9.70 to 8.37 nmol/L, whereas walking in an urban environment barely changed mean cortisol concentration, from 10.28 to 10.01 nmol/L. Two-way repeated analysis of variance revealed a significant interaction effect between the environment and walking (p < 0.001) in addition to the main effects of each (p < 0.001 and p = 0.001, for walking and environment, respectively). For further analysis, the proportion of participants who exhibited decreased cortisol after forest-walking was compared with the previously reported proportion of participants who exhibited decreased cortisol after viewing forest landscapes. Although the proportion of positive responders was slightly higher after walking (69%) than it was after viewing (60%), this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.093). The present study revealed a significant combined effect of walking and the environment on cortisol concentrations.

show abstract

“…Since the 1990s, a growing number of studies have been focused on a comparison of natural and built-up urban environments [6][7][8] showing mostly beneficial effects of the natural environment for human health and well-being. There are several studies indicating the effectiveness of forest visits (in comparison to a build-up environment) on mental health, depression and anxiety among people [9][10][11][12]. There is also evidence that a short walk in a forest environment might also have a therapeutic impact on mental hospital patients with affective and psychotic disorders [13].…”

Section: Nature and Human Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The direct impact of the forest environment can be measured by staying in the forest. For this purpose, the simulation of various activities is used: using the forest environment during the camp [49], walking [9] or sitting and relaxing [17]. Control is often used, such as being in an urban environment, where a negative effect on the psychological and physiological well-being of the subjects has been observed [50].…”

Section: Virtual Nature Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Viewing Video Representation of the Urban Environment and Forest Environment on Mood and Level of Procrastination

Bielinis

Simkin

Puttonen

et al. 2020

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A common problem among students is the problem of delaying important work activities, which is conceptualized as procrastination. Since procrastination can cause considerable costs for society, we would like to find a method to effectively alleviate the symptoms of this conditioning. It has been proven in an earlier study that staying in the forest environment increases vitality and reduces anxiety, and the negative state of these features can be associated with the intensification of procrastination symptoms. Therefore, it is likely that watching a forest video may decrease the probability or intensity of procrastination. To measure the impact of the forest environment on the level of procrastination of the subjects, a randomized experiment was carried out, in which the subjects watched in random order (on different days) one of two 15-min videos: one showing a walk in the forest area and one showing a walk in an urban environment (control). We measured the level of so-called ‘fluid procrastination’ including three aspects: ‘lack of energy to do the work’, ‘inability to get to work’ and ’pessimistic attitude to do the work’ with a set of questions the respondents completed before and after the experiment. The results showed that one aspect of fluid procrastination (‘pessimistic attitude to do the work’) can be effectively lowered by watching a video showing the forest environment. In contrast, watching a video of an urban environment increased the procrastination levels for two other aspects of procrastination (‘lack of energy to do the work’, ‘inability to get to work’). We also measured three other parameters before and after the experiment: mood state, restoration and vitality. Watching the video from forest area raised mood and restoration and watching the video from urban area, decreased mood, vitality and restoration. The study suggests that watching a video showing forest landscapes could be used as an effective remedy for problems related to procrastination among students.

show abstract

Psychological Benefits of Walking through Forest Areas

Cited by 81 publications

References 41 publications

Physiological and Psychological Effects of Viewing Forests on Young Women

Physiological and Psychological Effects of Viewing Forests on Young Women

Combined Effect of Walking and Forest Environment on Salivary Cortisol Concentration

Effect of Viewing Video Representation of the Urban Environment and Forest Environment on Mood and Level of Procrastination

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About