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      Effects of Short Forest Bathing Program on Autonomic Nervous System Activity and Mood States in Middle-Aged and Elderly Individuals

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          Abstract

          The present study investigated changes in autonomic nervous system activity and emotions after a short (2 h) forest bathing program in the Xitou Nature Education Area (XNEA), Taiwan. One hundred and twenty-eight (60.0 ± 7.44 years) middle-aged and elderly participants were recruited. Physiological responses, pulse rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate variability (HRV), and psychological indices were measured before and after the program. We observed that pulse rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were significantly lower after the program, which indicated physiological benefits from stress recovery. The Profile of Mood States negative mood subscale scores of “tension-anxiety”, “anger-hostility”, “fatigue-inertia”, “depression-dejection”, and “confusion-bewilderment” were significantly lower, whereas the positive mood subscale score of “vigor-activity” was higher. Furthermore, participants exhibited significantly lower anxiety levels according to the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. However, changes in sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve activity were nonsignificant. Our study determined that the short forest bathing program is a promising therapeutic method for enhancing heart rate and blood pressure functions as well as an effective psychological relaxation strategy for middle-aged and elderly individuals.

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          A systematic review of evidence for the added benefits to health of exposure to natural environments

          Diana E Bowler, Lisette Buyung-Ali, Teri M Knight … (2010)
          Background There is increasing interest in the potential role of the natural environment in human health and well-being. However, the evidence-base for specific and direct health or well-being benefits of activity within natural compared to more synthetic environments has not been systematically assessed. Methods We conducted a systematic review to collate and synthesise the findings of studies that compare measurements of health or well-being in natural and synthetic environments. Effect sizes of the differences between environments were calculated and meta-analysis used to synthesise data from studies measuring similar outcomes. Results Twenty-five studies met the review inclusion criteria. Most of these studies were crossover or controlled trials that investigated the effects of short-term exposure to each environment during a walk or run. This included 'natural' environments, such as public parks and green university campuses, and synthetic environments, such as indoor and outdoor built environments. The most common outcome measures were scores of different self-reported emotions. Based on these data, a meta-analysis provided some evidence of a positive benefit of a walk or run in a natural environment in comparison to a synthetic environment. There was also some support for greater attention after exposure to a natural environment but not after adjusting effect sizes for pretest differences. Meta-analysis of data on blood pressure and cortisol concentrations found less evidence of a consistent difference between environments across studies. Conclusions Overall, the studies are suggestive that natural environments may have direct and positive impacts on well-being, but support the need for investment in further research on this question to understand the general significance for public health.
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            Health and urban living.

            Christopher Dye (2008)
            The majority of people now live in urban areas and will do so for the foreseeable future. As a force in the demographic and health transition, urbanization is associated with falling birth and death rates and with the shift in burden of illness from acute childhood infections to chronic, noncommunicable diseases of adults. Urban inhabitants enjoy better health on average than their rural counterparts, but the benefits are usually greater for the rich than for the poor, thus magnifying the differences between them. Subject to better evidence, I suggest that the main obstacles to improving urban health are not technical or even financial, but rather are related to governance and the organization of civil society.
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              Effect of forest bathing trips on human immune function.

              Qing Li (2010)
              In Japan, a forest bathing trip, called "Shinrinyoku" in Japanese, is a short, leisurely visit to a forest; it is regarded as being similar to natural aromatherapy. This review focuses on the effects of forest bathing trips on human immune function. Beginning in 2005, adult Japanese individuals, both male and female, participated in a series of studies aimed at investigating the effect of forest bathing trips on human immune function. The subjects experienced a 3-day/2-night trip to forest areas, and blood and urine were sampled on days 2 (the first sampling during each trip) and 3 (the second sampling during each trip), and on days 7 and 30 after the trips. Natural killer (NK) activity, the numbers of NK, granulysin-, perforin-, and granzymes A/B-expressing lymphocytes in the blood, and the concentration of urinary adrenaline were measured. The same measurements were made before the trips on a normal working day as a control. The mean values of NK activity and the numbers of NK, granulysin-, perforin-, and granzymes A/B-expressing cells on forest bathing days were significantly higher than those on the control days, whereas the mean values of the concentration of urinary adrenaline on forest bathing days were significantly lower than that on the control days in both male and female subjects. The increased NK activity lasted for more than 30 days after the trip, suggesting that a forest bathing trip once a month would enable individuals to maintain a higher level of NK activity. In contrast, a visit to the city as a tourist did not increase NK activity, the numbers of NK cells, or the level of intracellular granulysin, perforin, and granzymes A/B. These findings indicate that forest bathing trips resulted in an increase in NK activity, which was mediated by increases in the number of NK cells and the levels of intracellular granulysin, perforin, and granzymes A/B.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Int J Environ Res Public Health
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Int J Environ Res Public Health
                Journal ID (publisher-id): ijerph
                Title: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
                Publisher: MDPI
                ISSN (Print): 1661-7827
                ISSN (Electronic): 1660-4601
                Publication date (Electronic): 09 August 2017
                Publication date (Print): August 2017
                Volume: 14
                Issue: 8
                Electronic Location Identifier: 897
                Affiliations
                [1 ]School of Forestry and Resource Conservation, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan; paulcmlin@ 123456gmail.com (C.-M.L.); tmj@ 123456ntu.edu.tw (M.-J.T.)
                [2 ]Graduate Institute of Oncology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan; yctsai1@ 123456ntu.edu.tw
                [3 ]Department of Tourism and Leisure Management, Yuanpei University of Medical Technology, Hsinchu 30015, Taiwan; samuel@ 123456mail.ypu.edu.tw
                Author notes
                [* ]Correspondence: simonyu@ 123456ntu.edu.tw ; Tel.: +886-2-3366-4618
                [†]

                Both authors contributed equally to this work.

                Article
                Publisher ID: ijerph-14-00897
                DOI: 10.3390/ijerph14080897
                PMC ID: 5579495
                PubMed ID: 28792445
                SO-VID: 34c48cf3-ec4f-466c-9c6c-78903c356392
                Copyright © © 2017 by the authors.
                License:

                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 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                Date received : 21 June 2017
                Date accepted : 04 August 2017
                Categories
                Subject: Article

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Public health
                Keywords: forest bathing,pulse rate,blood pressure,heart rate variability,profile of mood states,state-trait anxiety inventory,middle-aged and elderly
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Public health
                Keywords: forest bathing, pulse rate, blood pressure, heart rate variability, profile of mood states, state-trait anxiety inventory, middle-aged and elderly

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