Abstract
We investigated the impact of viewing versus not viewing a real forest on human subjects’ physiological and psychological responses in the same setting. Fifteen healthy volunteers (11 males, four females, mean age 36 years) participated. Each participant was asked to view a forest while seated in a comfortable chair for 15 min (Forest condition) vs. sitting the same length of time with a curtain obscuring the forest view (Enclosed condition). Both conditions significantly decreased blood pressure (BP) variables, i.e., systolic BP, diastolic BP, and mean arterial pressure between pre and post experimental stimuli, but these reductions showed no difference between conditions. Interestingly, the Forest viewing reduced cerebral oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO2) assessed by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and improved the subjects’ Profile of Mood States (POMS) scores, whereas the Enclosed condition increased the HbO2 and did not affect the POMS scores. There were no significant differences in saliva amylase or heart rate variability (HRV) between the two conditions. Collectively, these results suggest that viewing a real forest may have a positive effect on cerebral activity and psychological responses. However, both viewing and not viewing the forest had similar effects on cardiovascular responses such as BP variables and HRV.
Highlights
Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that a green environment is associated with improvements in people’s self-esteem and mental health [1,2] and increased longevity of aged people living in urban areas [3]
Numerous studies examining the effects of forest environments on psychological states such as emotions and moods [4,5,6,7,8] and on physiological factors such as cerebral activity [5], heart rate variability (HRV) [6,7,8], pulse rate and blood pressure (BP) [6,7,8], and salivary amylase
The interaction between condition and time was not significant (Table 1), indicating that there were no significant differences in BP variations across the two conditions
Summary
Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that a green environment is associated with improvements in people’s self-esteem and mental health [1,2] and increased longevity of aged people living in urban areas [3]. Numerous studies examining the effects of forest environments on psychological states such as emotions and moods [4,5,6,7,8] and on physiological factors such as cerebral activity [5], heart rate variability (HRV) [6,7,8], pulse rate and blood pressure (BP) [6,7,8], and salivary amylase (sAMY). A majority of the previous field studies compared forest and urban environments with respect to their physiological and psychological benefits for inhabitants [4,5,6,7,8,9]. It has been difficult to identify which factors of forest environments can have positive effects for human health. A landmark study proposed that viewing nature per se could produce positive health effects in hospitalized individuals [10], which indicates that visual stimuli may strongly influence human health
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