The physiological effects of Shinrin-yoku (taking in the forest atmosphere or forest bathing): evidence from field experiments in 24 forests across Japan

By Bum‐Jin Park, Y. Tsunetsugu, Tamami Kasetani, T. Kagawa, Yoshifumi Miyazaki. Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, 2010

1,028 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This paper reviews previous research on the physiological effects of Shinrin-yoku (taking in the forest atmosphere or forest bathing), and presents new results from field experiments conducted in 24 forests across Japan. The term Shinrin-yoku was coined by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries in 1982, and can be defined as making contact with and taking in the atmosphere of the forest. In order to clarify the physiological effects of Shinrin-yoku, we conducted field experiments in 24 forests across Japan. In each experiment, 12 subjects (280 total; ages 21.7 ± 1.5 year) walked in and viewed a forest or city area. On the first day, six subjects were sent to a forest area, and the others to a city area. On the second day, each group was sent to the other area as a cross-check. Salivary cortisol, blood pressure, pulse rate, and heart rate variability were used as indices. These indices were measured in the morning at the accommodation facility before breakfast and also both before and after the walking (for 16 ± 5 min) and viewing (for 14 ± 2 min). The R–R interval was also measured during the walking and viewing periods. The results show that forest environments promote lower concentrations of cortisol, lower pulse rate, lower blood pressure, greater parasympathetic nerve activity, and lower sympathetic nerve activity than do city environments. These results will contribute to the development of a research field dedicated to forest medicine, which may be used as a strategy for preventive medicine.

Subfields: Education, Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Sensory Systems

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7407f578fc60c795401c824b88435a81beb79d18

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Citations in the corpus

Health Benefits of Walking in Nature: A Randomized Controlled Study Under Conditions of Real-Life Stress (2018, background): “Yet, it is longer than the 10 to 30 min interventions used in previous studies investigating the effects of nature exposure on stress responses (see, for example, Brown et al., 2013; Li et al., 2011; Park et al., 2010; Ulrich et al., 1991).”
The health benefits of the great outdoors: A systematic review and meta-analysis of greenspace exposure and health outcomes (2018, background): “Shinrin yoku, or “forest bathing” is a popular practice in Japan and neighbouring countries, and is defined as “taking in the atmosphere of the forest” (Park et al., 2010).”
More green space is linked to less stress in deprived communities: Evidence from salivary cortisol patterns (2012, methodology): “…is evidence of independent responses that re promoted by the perception of natural environments (Hartig t al., 1991; Ulrich et al., 1991) and which may contribute to eople’s response to stress and their ability to cope with it (Lee t al., 2011; McEwen & Stellar, 1993; Park et al., 2007, 2010).”
The Effects of Forest Bathing on Stress Recovery: Evidence from Middle-Aged Females of Taiwan (2018, background): “Previous studies have confirmed that many environmental factors are associated with psychological and physiological health [3,14,45].”
Restoration in Urban Spaces (2016, background): “…experimental studies that show reduced physiological activation from nonvigorous activities in natural as opposed to nonnatural environments (e.g., Park et al., 2010; Roe & Aspinall, 2011; van den Berg & Custers, 2011) and complements another study on the relation between greenways and…”
Where to put your best foot forward: Psycho-physiological responses to walking in natural and urban environments (2016, background): “However, in the absence of baseline data, caution is required (Park et al., 2010; Tsunetsugu et al., 2013), and where change from baseline has been reported, a negative”