Abstract
BackgroundDespite increasing attention and a growing volume of research data, little physiological evidence is available on the benefits of horticultural activity and the different effects on individuals. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the physiological effects of horticultural activity and to examine how differences in personality alter these effects.ResultsThe effects of transplanting real flowers (horticultural activity) and handling artificial flowers (control activity) on human physiological activity were compared. On the first day, eight participants engaged in horticultural activity and another eight in the control activity. On the second day, participants switched roles. Participants’ physiological conditions during each activity were assessed by measuring the heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV). Psychological responses, which were measured using a semantic differential rating scale, showed that the horticultural activity promoted comfortable, soothed, and natural feelings, compared to the control activity. Analysis of physiological responses using two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that sympathetic nervous activity significantly decreased in the late time period (11 to 15 minutes) of horticultural activity only in the type A group.ConclusionsThis study supports the fact that the horticultural activity can enhance psychological and physiological relaxation effects, although these physiological effects can differ among individuals with different personalities.
Highlights
Humans have spent most of their evolution in natural environments [1] and have an innate desire to interact with such environments [2]
heart rate variability (HRV) data were analyzed with maximum entropy methods (MemCalc, GMS, Tokyo, Japan) where low (LF: 0.04 to 0.15 Hz) and high frequency (HF: 0.15 to 0.40 Hz) components of the power spectrum were calculated based on the R-R interval [17]
There was no significant difference between horticultural and control activities in the mean values of heart rate, log (HF) and log(LF/(LF + HF)) for all subjects
Summary
Humans have spent most of their evolution in natural environments [1] and have an innate desire to interact with such environments (biophilia hypothesis) [2]. Most personality studies have been performed by observing external and social behavior; recent reports in the field of physiological anthropology support the idea that personality can be studied by investigating physiological response patterns. Previous experiments have illustrated that human physiological responses to natural stimuli differ according to personality [13,14], indicating the importance of personality studies from the perspective of physiological anthropology. Despite this importance, there are only a few studies that have verified individual differences based on personality in the physiological effects of horticultural activity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the physiological effects of horticultural activity and to examine how differences in personality alter these effects
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