Abstract
Walking within nature (Green Exercise) has been shown to immediately enhance mental well-being but less is known about the impact on physiology and longer lasting effects. Heart rate variability (HRV) gives an indication of autonomic control of the heart, in particular vagal activity, with reduced HRV identified as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Night-time HRV allows vagal activity to be assessed whilst minimizing confounding influences of physical and mental activity. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a lunchtime walk in nature increases night-time HRV. Participants (n = 13) attended on two occasions to walk a 1.8 km route through a built or a natural environment. Pace was similar between the two walks. HRV was measured during sleep using a RR interval sensor (eMotion sensor) and was assessed at 1–2 h after participants noted that they had fallen asleep. Markers for vagal activity were significantly greater after the walk in nature compared to the built walk. Lunchtime walks in nature-based environments may provide a greater restorative effect as shown by vagal activity than equivalent built walks. Nature walks may improve essential recovery during night-time sleep, potentially enhancing physiological health.
Highlights
Exposure to nature has wide ranging positive effects on health, mental wellbeing in comparison to indoor environments [1] or synthetic or built environments [2]
Compared to equivalent non-Green Exercise conditions, Green Exercise participation promotes post-exercise decreases in heart rate (HR) [8,9,10], systolic (SBP) [6,8,10] and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) [6,8,10]
There were no significant differences in cardiovascular measures at rest prior to the two walks for: HR (Green walk: M = 67.3 ̆ 13.1 bpm; Built walk: M = 65.7 ̆ 11.7 bpm; p = 0.49); SBP (Green walk: M = 118.8 ̆ 15.0 mmHg; Built walk: M = 119.7 ̆ 13.0 mmHg; p = 0.75); DBP (Green walk: M = 75.3 ̆ 11.2 mmHg; Built walk: 76.7 ̆ 8.3 mmHg; p = 0.33)
Summary
Exposure to nature has wide ranging positive effects on health, mental wellbeing in comparison to indoor environments [1] or synthetic or built environments [2]. A handful of studies have investigated the potential of Green Exercise to promote immediate physiologically restorative effects [6,7,8,9,10,11] with fewer assessing longer-lasting effects [2]. Compared to equivalent non-Green Exercise conditions (either viewing scenes of built environments on a screen whilst exercising on an ergometer or performing physical activity in an indoor or “built” outdoor environment), Green Exercise participation promotes post-exercise decreases in heart rate (HR) [8,9,10], systolic (SBP) [6,8,10] and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) [6,8,10]. HRV is a well-established non-invasive tool giving an indication of the
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