Trial reportEuropean journal of applied physiology2012
The effects of views of nature on autonomic control.
Trial report in European journal of applied physiology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04592770 (Effect of Nature-based Exercise on Post-traumatic Growth Among People With Post-traumatic Stress), which is not on this map. Cited by 56 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Effect of Nature-based Exercise on Post-traumatic Growth Among People With Post-traumatic Stress: A Randomized Placebo-controlled Trial Designed to Observe Psychophysiological Alterations Before to After Intervention
Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Physiological Benefits of Viewing Nature: A Systematic Review of Indoor Experiments.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Pooled it
- The impact of the natural environment on the promotion of active living: an integrative systematic review.BMC public health · 2014Pooled it
- Enhancing Psychophysiological Well-Being Through Nature-Based Soundscapes: An Examination of Heart Rate Variability in a Cross-Over Study.Psychophysiology · 2025Trial
- Green Exercise: Can Nature Video Benefit Isometric Exercise?International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- Skin conductance responses in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) under mental arithmetic stress.PloS one · 2019Trial
- Trial
- Autonomic Nervous System Responses to Viewing Green and Built Settings: Differentiating Between Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Activity.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2015Trial
- Viewing nature scenes positively affects recovery of autonomic function following acute-mental stress.Environmental science & technology · 2013Trial
- Walks4work: rationale and study design to investigate walking at lunchtime in the workplace setting.BMC public health · 2012Trial
- Comparative analysis of physiological and psychological effects of viewing and drinking flower tea.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Heart Rate Fragmentation: A Novel Analytic Approach to Detect Allostatic Load Among Healthy Adults.Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback · 2026Article
- Article
- Schoolyard Level Inventory for Describing the Environment: Linking High-Resolution Spatiotemporal Data to the Physical Environment to Understand Children's Physical Activity Behaviors.The Journal of school health · 2025Article
- Study on the effects of traffic noise and spring water sound at different sound pressure levels on brain dynamic activity.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Effect of Virtual Zen Garden on Quality of Life of Residents in Long-Term Care Home.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Harnessing the therapeutic effects of nature for chronic Pain: A role for immersive virtual reality? A narrative review.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2025Review
- The concept of the digital therapeutic garden and its psychological effects.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Early life adversity blunts the subjective and physiological relaxation response in healthy adults.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- 3D built virtual arctic environment increase vigor through connectedness in older people.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Effects of forest bathing (Shinrin-yoku) in stressed people.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Previously studies have shown that nature improves mood and self-esteem and reduces blood pressure. Walking within a natural environment has been suggested to alter autonomic nervous system control, but the mechanisms are not fully understood. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a non-invasive method of assessing autonomic control and can give an insight into vagal modulation. Our hypothesis was that viewing nature alone within a controlled laboratory environment would induce higher levels of HRV as compared to built scenes. Heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) were measured during viewing different scenes in a controlled environment. HRV was used to investigate alterations in autonomic activity, specifically parasympathetic activity. Each participant lay in the semi-supine position in a laboratory while we recorded 5 min (n = 29) of ECG, BP and respiration as they viewed two collections of slides (one containing nature views and the other built scenes). During viewing of nature, markers of parasympathetic activity were increased in both studies. Root mean squared of successive differences increased 4.2 ± 7.7 ms (t = 2.9, p = 0.008) and natural logarithm of high frequency increased 0.19 ± 0.36 ms(2) Hz(-1) (t = 2.9, p = 0.007) as compared to built scenes. Mean HR and BP were not significantly altered. This study provides evidence that autonomic control of the heart is altered by the simple act of just viewing natural scenes with an increase in vagal activity.
Indexed as
Identifiers
22270487What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.