Short-Term Effects of Forest Therapy on Mood States: A Pilot Study

Immersion in forest environments was shown to produce beneficial effects to human health, in particular psychophysical relaxation, leading to its growing recognition as a form of integrative medicine. However, limited evidence exists about the statistical significance of the effects and their associ...

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Autores principales: Meneguzzo, Francesco, Albanese, Lorenzo, Antonelli, Michele, Baraldi, Rita, Becheri, Francesco Riccardo, Centritto, Francesco, Donelli, Davide, Finelli, Franco, Firenzuoli, Fabio, Margheritini, Giovanni, Maggini, Valentina, Nardini, Sara, Regina, Marta, Zabini, Federica, Neri, Luisa
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8470271/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34574446
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189509
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author Meneguzzo, Francesco
Albanese, Lorenzo
Antonelli, Michele
Baraldi, Rita
Becheri, Francesco Riccardo
Centritto, Francesco
Donelli, Davide
Finelli, Franco
Firenzuoli, Fabio
Margheritini, Giovanni
Maggini, Valentina
Nardini, Sara
Regina, Marta
Zabini, Federica
Neri, Luisa
author_facet Meneguzzo, Francesco
Albanese, Lorenzo
Antonelli, Michele
Baraldi, Rita
Becheri, Francesco Riccardo
Centritto, Francesco
Donelli, Davide
Finelli, Franco
Firenzuoli, Fabio
Margheritini, Giovanni
Maggini, Valentina
Nardini, Sara
Regina, Marta
Zabini, Federica
Neri, Luisa
author_sort Meneguzzo, Francesco
collection PubMed
description Immersion in forest environments was shown to produce beneficial effects to human health, in particular psychophysical relaxation, leading to its growing recognition as a form of integrative medicine. However, limited evidence exists about the statistical significance of the effects and their association with external and environmental variables and personal characteristics. This experimental study aimed to substantiate the very concept of forest therapy by means of the analysis of the significance of its effects on the mood states of anxiety, depression, anger and confusion. Seven forest therapy sessions were performed in remote areas and a control one in an urban park, with participants allowed to attend only one session, resulting in 162 psychological self-assessment questionnaires administered before and after each session. Meteorological comfort, the concentration of volatile organic compounds in the forest atmosphere and environmental coherence were identified as likely important external and environmental variables. Under certain conditions, forest therapy sessions performed in remote sites were shown to outperform the control session, at least for anxiety, anger and confusion. A quantitative analysis of the association of the outcomes with personal sociodemographic characteristics revealed that only sporting habits and age were significantly associated with the outcomes for certain psychological domains.
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spelling pubmed-84702712021-09-27 Short-Term Effects of Forest Therapy on Mood States: A Pilot Study Meneguzzo, Francesco Albanese, Lorenzo Antonelli, Michele Baraldi, Rita Becheri, Francesco Riccardo Centritto, Francesco Donelli, Davide Finelli, Franco Firenzuoli, Fabio Margheritini, Giovanni Maggini, Valentina Nardini, Sara Regina, Marta Zabini, Federica Neri, Luisa Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Immersion in forest environments was shown to produce beneficial effects to human health, in particular psychophysical relaxation, leading to its growing recognition as a form of integrative medicine. However, limited evidence exists about the statistical significance of the effects and their association with external and environmental variables and personal characteristics. This experimental study aimed to substantiate the very concept of forest therapy by means of the analysis of the significance of its effects on the mood states of anxiety, depression, anger and confusion. Seven forest therapy sessions were performed in remote areas and a control one in an urban park, with participants allowed to attend only one session, resulting in 162 psychological self-assessment questionnaires administered before and after each session. Meteorological comfort, the concentration of volatile organic compounds in the forest atmosphere and environmental coherence were identified as likely important external and environmental variables. Under certain conditions, forest therapy sessions performed in remote sites were shown to outperform the control session, at least for anxiety, anger and confusion. A quantitative analysis of the association of the outcomes with personal sociodemographic characteristics revealed that only sporting habits and age were significantly associated with the outcomes for certain psychological domains. MDPI 2021-09-09 /pmc/articles/PMC8470271/ /pubmed/34574446 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189509 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Meneguzzo, Francesco
Albanese, Lorenzo
Antonelli, Michele
Baraldi, Rita
Becheri, Francesco Riccardo
Centritto, Francesco
Donelli, Davide
Finelli, Franco
Firenzuoli, Fabio
Margheritini, Giovanni
Maggini, Valentina
Nardini, Sara
Regina, Marta
Zabini, Federica
Neri, Luisa
Short-Term Effects of Forest Therapy on Mood States: A Pilot Study
title Short-Term Effects of Forest Therapy on Mood States: A Pilot Study
title_full Short-Term Effects of Forest Therapy on Mood States: A Pilot Study
title_fullStr Short-Term Effects of Forest Therapy on Mood States: A Pilot Study
title_full_unstemmed Short-Term Effects of Forest Therapy on Mood States: A Pilot Study
title_short Short-Term Effects of Forest Therapy on Mood States: A Pilot Study
title_sort short-term effects of forest therapy on mood states: a pilot study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8470271/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34574446
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189509
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