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Environ Health Prev Med (2010) 15:1826 DOI 10.1007/s12199-009-0086-9
SPECIAL FEATURE The Trends on the Research of Forest Bathing in Japan,Korea and in the World
The physiological effects of Shinrin-yoku (taking in the forest atmosphere or forest bathing): evidence from eld experiments in 24 forests across Japan
Bum Jin Park Yuko Tsunetsugu Tamami Kasetani Takahide Kagawa Yoshifumi Miyazaki
Received: 18 July 2008 / Accepted: 6 April 2009 / Published online: 2 May 2009 The Japanese Society for Hygiene 2009
Abstract This paper reviews previous research on the physiological effects of Shinrin-yoku (taking in the forest atmosphere or forest bathing), and presents new results from eld experiments conducted in 24 forests across Japan. The term Shinrin-yoku was coined by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries in 1982, and can be dened as making contact with and taking in the atmosphere of the forest. In order to clarify the physiological effects of Shinrin-yoku, we conducted eld experiments in 24 forests across Japan. In each experiment, 12 subjects (280 total; ages21.7 1.5 year) walked in and viewed a forest or city area. On the rst day, six subjects were sent to a forest area, and the others to a city area. On the second day, each group was sent to the other area as a cross-check. Salivary cortisol, blood pressure, pulse rate, and heart rate variability were used as indices. These indices were measured in the morning at the accommodation facility before breakfast and also both before and after the walking (for 16 5 min) and viewing (for 14 2 min). The RR interval was also measured during the walking and viewing periods. The results show that forest environments promote lower concentrations of cortisol, lower pulse rate, lower blood pressure, greater
parasympathetic nerve activity, and lower sympathetic nerve activity than do city environments. These results will contribute to the development of a research eld dedicated to forest medicine, which may be used as a strategy for preventive medicine.
Keywords Therapeutic effects of forest Heart rate
variability Salivary cortisol Blood pressure Pulse rate
Introduction
The growing interest in environmental stress has been accompanied by a rapid accumulation of evidence indicating that environment can elicit substantial stress in people living in urban environments [1]. Furthermore, it is broadly conceived...