ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2014
Emotional, restorative and vitalizing effects of forest and urban environments at four sites in Japan.
Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers, 8 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
68 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of green exercise on mental health: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of urban green exercise on mental health: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Mechanisms Underpinning Psychological Change Following Nature Exposure in an Adolescent Population.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- A Meta-Analysis of Emotional Evidence for the Biophilia Hypothesis and Implications for Biophilic Design.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Pooled it
- Impact of Exposure to Natural and Built Environments on Positive and Negative Affect: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2021Pooled it
- Immersive Nature-Experiences as Health Promotion Interventions for Healthy, Vulnerable, and Sick Populations? A Systematic Review and Appraisal of Controlled Studies.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Pooled it
- Effects of Forest Therapy on Depressive Symptoms among Adults: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2017Pooled it
- Mental health benefits of long-term exposure to residential green and blue spaces: a systematic review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2015Pooled it
- Spending time in a forest vs. a virtual forest simulation: qualitative and quantitative effects on stress perception and psychological wellbeing in a randomized cross-over trial of highly sensitive persons.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Trial
- Spending Time in the Forest or the Field: Investigations on Stress Perception and Psychological Well-Being-A Randomized Cross-Over Trial in Highly Sensitive Persons.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- The Effects of a Forest Therapy Programme on Mental Hospital Patients with Affective and Psychotic Disorders.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Trial
- Walking Green: Developing an Evidence Base for Nature Prescriptions.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Trial
- Physiological and Psychological Effects of a Forest Therapy Program on Middle-Aged Females.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2015Trial
- Restorative effects of plant landscapes under different weather and phenology conditions: evidence from EEG and psychological responses.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Comparative analysis of physiological and psychological effects of viewing and drinking flower tea.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Potential preventive effects of forest bathing/Shinrin-yoku on depressive symptoms: a narrative review of mechanistic evidence.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2026Review
- Configurational and chain-mediational path-ways linking natural environment perception to restorative environmental perception.PloS one · 2026Article
- Outdoor Natural Versus Built Experiments: A Scoping Review and Methodological Recommendations for Psychological Science.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Are Virtual Forests Just for Relaxation, or Can They Enhance the Benefits of Therapy?Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The present study investigated the well-being effects of short-term forest walking and viewing ("forest bathing"). The hypothesis in our study was that both environment (forest vs. urban) and activity (walking and viewing) would influence psychological outcomes. An additional aim was to enhance basic research using several psychological methods. We conducted the experiments using 45 respondents in four areas of Japan from August to September, 2011. The hypothesis in our study was supported, because significant interaction terms between the environment and activity were confirmed regarding the Profile of Mood States (POMS) indexes, Restorative Outcome Scale (ROS) and Subjective Vitality Scale (SVS). No statistical differences between the two experimental groups in any of the ten scales were found before the experiment. However, feelings of vigor and positive effects, as well as feelings of subjective recovery and vitality were stronger in the forest environment than in the urban environment.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What 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.