Autonomic Nervous System Responses to Viewing Green and Built Settings: Differentiating Between Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Activity

Abstract

This laboratory study explored buffering and recovery effects of viewing urban green and built spaces on autonomic nervous system activity. Forty-six students viewed photos of green and built spaces immediately following, and preceding acute stress induction. Simultaneously recorded electrocardiogram and impedance cardiogram signal was used to derive respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and pre-ejection period (PEP), indicators of respectively parasympathetic and sympathetic activity. The findings provide support for greater recovery after viewing green scenes, as marked by a stronger increase in RSA as a marker of parasympathetic activity. There were no indications for greater recovery after viewing green scenes in PEP as a marker of sympathetic activity, and there were also no indications of greater buffering effects of green space in neither RSA nor PEP. Overall, our findings are consistent with a predominant role of the parasympathetic nervous system in restorative effects of viewing green space.

Associations Between Child Maltreatment, Autonomic Regulation, and Adverse Cardiovascular Outcome in an Urban Population: The HELIUS Study

“…One could argue that in the face of adversity, neither disease nor resilience is a certain outcome. The presence of protective factors, particularly safe, stable, and nurturing relationships, can often mitigate the consequences of ACEs (57,58). Also neighborhood greenness for example might buffer against the detrimental effects of stress by specifically promoting activity of the parasympathetic nervous system in restoring the body to a calm state after stress reactivity (59).…”

Effects of biophilic interventions in office on stress reaction and cognitive function: A randomized crossover study in virtual reality

“…41,56,57 They could walk and observe the surrounding environment freely in this period, during which we collected their gaze data by using eye-tracking device. This period allowed their physiological conditions to stabilize, during which their baseline physiological status including BP, HR, HRV, and SCL was collected.…”

“…Following the period of rest, participants were virtually exposed to the indoor office environment for five minutes, which has been shown in previous research to be a sufficient period of time for changing acute physiological stress level. 41,56,57 They could walk and observe the surrounding environment freely in this period, during which we collected their gaze data by using eye-tracking device. After that, they remained in this virtual environment and took a 5-minute cognitive test by using a virtual desktop in VR ( Figure S1).…”

Growing Resilience through Interaction with Nature: Can Group Walks in Nature Buffer the Effects of Stressful Life Events on Mental Health?

“…With regard to resilience, the SRT has been tested to see whether nature can help with recovery from the after-effects of stress, as well as protect against future stressors. Exposure to nature after experiencing an acute stressor (e.g., a scary film) results in stress recovery [60,62,63]. However, the evidence is mixed for whether exposure to nature before experiencing an acute stressor can protect against subsequent stress responses [62,63].…”

“…Exposure to nature after experiencing an acute stressor (e.g., a scary film) results in stress recovery [60,62,63]. However, the evidence is mixed for whether exposure to nature before experiencing an acute stressor can protect against subsequent stress responses [62,63]. Contact to nature has also been shown to facilitate restoration and stress recovery in samples experiencing chronic stressors.…”