Abstract
Forest recreation can be successfully conducted for the purpose of psychological relaxation, as has been proven in previous scientific studies. During the winter in many countries, when snow cover occurs frequently, forest recreation (walking, relaxation, photography, etc.) is common. Nevertheless, whether forest therapy conducted in a forest environment with a snow cover will also have a positive effect on psychological indicators remains unknown. Furthermore, male subjects frequently participate in forest therapy experiments, whereas females are rarely involved. Thus, in this study, the effectuality of forest recreation during winter and with snow cover was tested on 32 young females. For these reasons, the experiment involved 15 min periods of relaxation in a forest environment or in an urban street environment, in addition to a pre-test under indoor conditions (randomized controlled study). Four psychological questionnaires Profile of Mood States (POMS), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Restorative Outcome Scale (ROS), Subjective Vitality Scale (SVS)) were administered to participants before and after interventions. Results showed that participants’ levels of negative mood, as measured by different aspects of the POMS questionnaire (tension/anxiety, anger/hostility, depression/dejection, confusion, and fatigue), decreased after exposure to the forest environment. In contrast, both tension/anxiety and anger/hostility increased in the urban street environment. The indicator of negative affect from the PANAS questionnaire also increased after exposure to the urban street environment, whereas the indicator of positive affect based on PANAS was higher in the forest environment than in the urban street environment. Restorativeness and subjective vitality exhibited higher values after exposure to the forest environment in comparison to those from the control and pre-test. The changes in these indicators demonstrate that forest recreation in the snow during winter can significantly increase psychological relaxation in females, as well as show that recreation can be successfully conducted under these winter conditions.
Highlights
Forest recreation is an activity engaged for pleasure, and it is done outside in a natural forest environment [1]
The results of the Fisher’s least significant difference (LSD) test comparisons showed that tension/anxiety and anger/hostility were significantly increased after participants in the urban group were exposed to the urban street environment
This study examined the effect of a snow-covered forest environment during winter on young females’ psychological relaxation, with the urban street environment as a control
Summary
Forest recreation is an activity engaged for pleasure, and it is done outside in a natural forest environment [1]. Many positive outcomes have been reported in both males and females, including lowered negative and heightened positive mood states [11], lowered pulse rate and blood pressure [12], reduced rates of hormones involved in stress [13], increased immunological activity, and increased levels of cells responsible for cancer resistance [14] This beneficial impact on health has been observed in Scandinavian and Asian countries, and various strategies, including forest therapy roads [15] and the forest garden Nacadia® [16], have been introduced to facilitate using the forest and nature for health recreation purposes. Knowledge concerning the management of forest environments to best achieve the purpose of forest recreation and knowledge regarding how and when to organize recreational activities are crucial for interested subjects (e.g., forest owners, foresters, and therapists)
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