The Salutary Influence of Forest Bathing on Elderly Patients with Chronic Heart Failure

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to test the hypothesis that forest bathing would be beneficial for elderly patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) as an adjunctive therapy. Two groups of participants with CHF were simultaneously sent to the forest or an urban control area for a four-day trip, respectively. Subjects exposed to the forest site showed a significant reduction of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in comparison to that of the city group and their own baseline levels. The values for the cardiovascular disease related pathological factors, including endothelin-1 (ET-1), and constituents of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), including renin, angiotensinogen (AGT), angiotensin II (ANGII), and ANGII receptor type 1 or 2 (AT1 or AT2) in subjects exposed to the forest environment were lower than those in the urban control group. Obviously, a decreased level of inflammatory cytokines and improved antioxidant function was observed in the forest group rather than in the city group. The assessment of the profile of mood states (POMS) indicated that the negative emotional mood state was alleviated after forest bathing. As anticipated, a better air quality in the forest site was observed according to the detection of PM2.5 (particulate matter <2.5 μm) and negative ions. These results provided direct evidence that forest bathing has a beneficial effect on CHF patients, and thus may pave the way for potential development of forest bathing as an effective adjunctive therapy on cardiovascular disorders.

Effects of Horticultural Therapy on Asian Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…This proposition was supported by the findings of Mao et al which showed that forest bathing reduced cardiovascular disease-related biomarkers, one of which was IL-6 [19]. Additionally, Ochiai et al showed that forest bathing reduced blood pressure (BP), urinary adrenaline, and both serum and salivary cortisol [20,21].…”

Prevalence of frailty among community‐dwellers and outpatients in Japan as defined by the Japanese version of the Cardiovascular Health Study criteria

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“…5 Despite this, global studies show that Japanese adults undertake comparatively low levels of physical activity. 6 Although Japan's population is long-lived, older adult health expectancy might increase if levels of physical activity rise to meet international guidelines for aerobic, strength and flexibility exercises. 4 If a cohortlevel compression of morbidity occurred among older Japanese, there would potentially be a commensurate reduction in dependency.…”

The effect of short-term exposure to the natural environment on depressive mood: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Some studies specified a clinical population. This included persons with: major depressive disorder (Berman et al, 2013), high-normal or hypertension (Li et al, 2016;Mao et al, 2012a;, congestive heart failure (CHF) (Mao et al, 2017),…”