ArticleFrontiers in public health2018
Forest Walking Affects Autonomic Nervous Activity: A Population-Based Study.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Impact on Autonomic Nervous System Activity during and Following Exercise in Adults: A Meta-Regression Study and Trial Sequential Analysis.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Pooled it
- Medical empirical research on forest bathing (Shinrin-yoku): a systematic review.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Forest terpenes and stress: Examining the associations of filtered vs. non-filtered air in a real-life natural environment.Environmental research · 2025Trial
- Randomized controlled trial on the efficacy of forest walking compared to urban walking in enhancing mucosal immunity.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Therapeutic effects of forest bathing on older adult patients with essential hypertension: evidence from a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest.Frontiers in public health · 2025Trial
- Cardiorespiratory Interaction and Autonomic Sleep Quality Improve during Sleep in Beds Made fromInternational journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- Green Exercise: Can Nature Video Benefit Isometric Exercise?International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- Effects of Walking in a Forest on Young Women.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Trial
- Association of Novel Oral Appliance Use With Heart Rate Variability in Adolescent Athletes.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2026Article
- Forest Bathing (Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- From indoor psychotherapy and counseling to walk-and-talk: psychological and physiological responses across a fixed sequence of indoor, urban, and nature-based sessions.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The interactive influence mechanism of visual and olfactory stimuli on college students' preferences for campus green spaces.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The Effect of the Nasal Airflow Reducer on Parasympathetic Activity in Adults: A Pilot and Exploratory Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Article
- An Exploratory Study on 'Vancharya' as a Therapeutic Approach to the Bio-field of Young Adults Using Electronic Photographic Imaging.Annals of neurosciences · 2025Article
- Perception and Decision-Making in Virtual Telepsychology Spaces and Professionals.Vision (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Engaging in Physical Activity in Green Spaces at Night Is Associated with Mental Well-Being and Happiness.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Just 1-min exposure to a pure tone at 100 Hz with daily exposable sound pressure levels may improve motion sickness.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Exercise Effects on Autonomic Nervous System Activity in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients over Time: A Meta-Regression Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Nature-based experience in Venetian lagoon: Effects on craving and wellbeing in addict residential inpatients.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of walking in forest environments on autonomic nervous activity with special reference to its distribution characteristics. Heart rate variability (HRV) of 485 male participants while walking for ~15 min in a forest and an urban area was analyzed. The experimental sites were 57 forests and 57 urban areas across Japan. Parasympathetic and sympathetic indicators [lnHF and ln(LF/HF), respectively] of HRV were calculated based on ~15-min heart rate recordings. Skewness and kurtosis of the distributions of lnHF and ln(LF/HF) were almost the same between the two environments, although the means and medians of the indicators differed significantly. Percentages of positive responders [presenting an increase in lnHF or a decrease in ln(LF/HF) in forest environments] were 65.2 and 67.0%, respectively. The percentage of lnHF was significantly smaller than our previous results on HRV during the viewing of urban or forest landscapes, whereas the percentage of ln(LF/HF) was not significantly different. The results suggest that walking in a forest environment has a different effect on autonomic nervous activity than viewing a forest landscape.
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Registered trials
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