Cargando…

Impact of Viewing vs. Not Viewing a Real Forest on Physiological and Psychological Responses in the Same Setting

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...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Horiuchi, Masahiro, Endo, Junko, Takayama, Norimasa, Murase, Kazutaka, Nishiyama, Norio, Saito, Haruo, Fujiwara, Akio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4211012/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25333924
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph111010883
_version_ 1782341494280028160
author Horiuchi, Masahiro
Endo, Junko
Takayama, Norimasa
Murase, Kazutaka
Nishiyama, Norio
Saito, Haruo
Fujiwara, Akio
author_facet Horiuchi, Masahiro
Endo, Junko
Takayama, Norimasa
Murase, Kazutaka
Nishiyama, Norio
Saito, Haruo
Fujiwara, Akio
author_sort Horiuchi, Masahiro
collection PubMed
description 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 (HbO(2)) assessed by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and improved the subjects’ Profile of Mood States (POMS) scores, whereas the Enclosed condition increased the HbO(2) 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.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4211012
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2014
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-42110122014-10-28 Impact of Viewing vs. Not Viewing a Real Forest on Physiological and Psychological Responses in the Same Setting Horiuchi, Masahiro Endo, Junko Takayama, Norimasa Murase, Kazutaka Nishiyama, Norio Saito, Haruo Fujiwara, Akio Int J Environ Res Public Health Article 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 (HbO(2)) assessed by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and improved the subjects’ Profile of Mood States (POMS) scores, whereas the Enclosed condition increased the HbO(2) 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. MDPI 2014-10-20 2014-10 /pmc/articles/PMC4211012/ /pubmed/25333924 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph111010883 Text en © 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Horiuchi, Masahiro
Endo, Junko
Takayama, Norimasa
Murase, Kazutaka
Nishiyama, Norio
Saito, Haruo
Fujiwara, Akio
Impact of Viewing vs. Not Viewing a Real Forest on Physiological and Psychological Responses in the Same Setting
title Impact of Viewing vs. Not Viewing a Real Forest on Physiological and Psychological Responses in the Same Setting
title_full Impact of Viewing vs. Not Viewing a Real Forest on Physiological and Psychological Responses in the Same Setting
title_fullStr Impact of Viewing vs. Not Viewing a Real Forest on Physiological and Psychological Responses in the Same Setting
title_full_unstemmed Impact of Viewing vs. Not Viewing a Real Forest on Physiological and Psychological Responses in the Same Setting
title_short Impact of Viewing vs. Not Viewing a Real Forest on Physiological and Psychological Responses in the Same Setting
title_sort impact of viewing vs. not viewing a real forest on physiological and psychological responses in the same setting
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4211012/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25333924
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph111010883
work_keys_str_mv AT horiuchimasahiro impactofviewingvsnotviewingarealforestonphysiologicalandpsychologicalresponsesinthesamesetting
AT endojunko impactofviewingvsnotviewingarealforestonphysiologicalandpsychologicalresponsesinthesamesetting
AT takayamanorimasa impactofviewingvsnotviewingarealforestonphysiologicalandpsychologicalresponsesinthesamesetting
AT murasekazutaka impactofviewingvsnotviewingarealforestonphysiologicalandpsychologicalresponsesinthesamesetting
AT nishiyamanorio impactofviewingvsnotviewingarealforestonphysiologicalandpsychologicalresponsesinthesamesetting
AT saitoharuo impactofviewingvsnotviewingarealforestonphysiologicalandpsychologicalresponsesinthesamesetting
AT fujiwaraakio impactofviewingvsnotviewingarealforestonphysiologicalandpsychologicalresponsesinthesamesetting