Effect of forest bathing on physiological and psychological responses in young Japanese male subjects

Relaxation Effect of a 2-Hour Walk in Kumano-Kodo Forest

“…Studies on forest bathing shinrin-yoku, most of which have been conducted in Japan [2][3][4][5][6][7], have shown that spending time in a forest reduces the pulse rate, reduces cortisol, suppresses sympathetic activity, increases parasympathetic activity, and lowers blood pressure compared with spending time in an urban area. Similar results are obtained even after only about 15 to 20 minutes of walking in the forest [8][9][10][11][12].…”

“…The first study to report that shinrin-yoku reduces stress was conducted in 1996 [2]. Many studies have since shown the stress-relieving effect of shinrin-yoku [3][4][5][6][7]. These studies measured cortisol in saliva, sympathetic and parasympathetic functions, blood pressure, and heart rate variability as indices of stress.…”

Nature Therapy and Preventive Medicine

“…Flow cytometric analysis was performed with a FACScan flow cytometer as described previously (Li et al, 2007a(Li et al, , 2007b(Li et al, , 2008a(Li et al, , 2008bLi, 2010b). Investigation of human physiological responses in actual field sites is extremely valuable because it can reveal the total effects of the surrounding environment (Lee et al, 2009(Lee et al, , 2011b(Lee et al, , 2011cMatsunaga et al, 2011;Park et al, 2007Park et al, , 2008aPark et al, , 2008bPark et al, , 2009Tsunetsugu et al 2007b). A field study provides more important information regarding the effects of real environments than an indoor study.…”

Effects of olfactory stimulation by α-pinene on autonomic nervous activity

“…It is also the main component responsible for the smell in forests [9]. Studies using rats or mice have reported the physiological effects of a-pinene in rodent species [10,11].…”