An Exploratory Study on the Effects of Forest Therapy on Sleep Quality in Patients with Gastrointestinal Tract Cancers

Kim, Hyeyun; Lee, Yong Won; Ju, Hyo Jin; Jang, Bong Jin; Kim, Yeong In

doi:10.3390/ijerph16142449

Cited by 33 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Forest therapy for insomnia, which can induce a decrease in the secretion of cortisol, might be one of the ways to break this vicious cycle. In 2018, the effectiveness of a forest therapy program for patients diagnosed with cancer was verified through a preliminary study, which showed increased sleep efficiency and sleep initiation times through polysomnographic findings [ 4 ]. After reviewing previous studies about forest therapy and nonpharmacological treatments for insomnia and menopause, various activities for relaxing and meditating in the forest are expected to have synergistic effects in insomnia and menopause treatment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, to our knowledge, there is no study detailing how long staying in a forest is effective or not. Through the experience of our prior research, participants were unable to sleep on the first day of the program due to unfamiliar sleeping environments [ 4 ]. Based on several previous trials of forest therapy, our program’s duration was set at five nights and six days [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 15 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although there are numerous studies on the effects of forest therapy, they mainly reported on positive emotional reinforcement and physical and psychological relaxation, with limited scientific bases. A previous study investigated the positive influence of forest therapy on sleep quality in 11 patients diagnosed with cancer, and it objectively and scientifically confirmed improved sleep efficiency and decreased sleep onset in the patients through polysomnography (PSG) [ 4 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of Forest Therapy for Menopausal Women with Insomnia

Kim

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Female hormone changes during menopause can affect the autonomic nervous system, circadian rhythm, and secretion of cortisol/melatonin, resulting in a vulnerability to insomnia. In this light, therapy has been gaining attention as a way to reduce stress hormones by stabilizing the autonomic nervous system. Thus, this study aims to objectively and scientifically analyze the impact of forest therapy in postmenopausal insomnia patients. The forest therapy program lasted 6 days, wherein 35 postmenopausal women performed activities such as trekking, leg massages, stretches, and bathing in warm and cold water. They also underwent serologic tests, participated in polysomnography (PSG), and answered sleep questionnaires before and after the program. Further, a statistical analysis compared the results. Serologic tests showed a significant reduction of cortisol from 10.2 ± 3.79 to 7.75 ± 2.81, while PSGs showed how sleep efficiency increased to 89.3 ± 4.3% (p < 0.01), and how waking after sleep onset reduced to 47.4 ± 22.3 min (p < 0.01). The total sleep time also increased to 428.5 min and sleep latency was 11.1 ± 11.0 min. Despite its limitations, forest therapy could be a good alternative to nonpharmacological treatment for mitigating insomnia in postmenopausal women.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of Forest Therapy for Menopausal Women with Insomnia

Kim

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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“…Forest therapy is a health promotion method that is based on the forest environment and activities such as walking and rest. Forest therapy has been proven to have a favorable influence on the health of the human body and mind in many medical studies [40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Forest Resting Environments on Stress Using Virtual Reality

Wang

Shi²,

Zhang

et al. 2019

IJERPH

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To explore the effects of different types of forest environments for forest therapy, this study focused on forest resting environments. Seven representative forest resting environments found in field research in Beijing were used as independent variables and were shown to subjects by a virtual reality (VR) video. Stress level was used as the dependent variable, and blood pressure, heart rate, salivary amylase, and the Brief Profile of Mood States (BPOMS) were used as physiological and psychological indicators. A between-subjects design was used in the experiment. A total of 96 subjects were randomly assigned to each environment type, and only one type of forest resting environment was observed. Through the relevant sample t-test and one-way analysis of variance, the pre- and post-test data of the indicators were analyzed. This study found that all the seven different types of forest resting environments can produce stress relief effects to some extent. Different types of forest resting environments have different effects on relieving stress. The most natural environment does not have the most significant effect on stress relief. A water landscape has a positive effect on the relief of stress. The conclusions of this study are conducive to the better use of the forest environment for forest therapy services.

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“…Nevertheless, the online platforms of mHealth [33] and cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBTi) [34] are resourceful, easily accessible materials for shift workers. Forest therapy (originating in the 1980s in Japan for stress reduction) that improved sleep efficiency in cancer patients [35] may be explored in shift workers in future studies.…”

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confidence: 99%