ArticleEnvironmental health and preventive medicine2022
Effects of forest bathing (shinrin-yoku) on serotonin in serum, depressive symptoms and subjective sleep quality in middle-aged males.
Article in Environmental health and preventive medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Realist review of nature-based interventions for men: understanding the contexts and mechanisms necessary for successful outcomes.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Short-term effects of urban versus forest bathing on stress, mood, sleep, immune function, and metabolic health: a randomized, open-label, 2 × 2 crossover trial.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2026Trial
- Forest bathing improves inflammatory markers, SpO2, and subjective symptoms related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in male subjects at risk of developing COPD.Journal of occupational health · 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
- Forest Bathing (Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Exploring the effects of short-term forest bathing on anxious medical undergraduates' stressful emotions using near-infrared functional brain imaging and facial expression technology.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Potential preventive effects of forest bathing/Shinrin-yoku on depressive symptoms: a narrative review of mechanistic evidence.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2026Review
- Effects of Forest Therapy on Depressive Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Psychology research and behavior management · 2026Review
- Implementation of active methodologies: a six-phase instructional design model from a neuroeducational perspective.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Impacts of Forest Bathing (Shinrin-Yoku) in Female Participants with Depression/Depressive Tendencies.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Is forest bathing a panacea for mental health problems? A narrative review.Frontiers in public health · 2025Review
- Comprehensive snapshots of natural killer cells functions, signaling, molecular mechanisms and clinical utilization.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2024Review
- 3D built virtual arctic environment increase vigor through connectedness in older people.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The Inverse Association between the Frequency of Forest Walking (Shinrin-yoku) and the Prevalence of Insomnia Symptoms in the General Japanese Population: A Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort Daiko Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Aula Verde (tree room) as a link between art and science to raise public awareness of nature-based solutions.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Gestational arsenic exposure induces anxiety-like behaviors in F1 female mice by dysregulation of neurological and immunological markers.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2023Article
- Effects of forest environment (Shinrin-yoku/Forest bathing) on health promotion and disease prevention -the Establishment of "Forest Medicine".Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2022Article
- Nature As Medicine: The 7th (Unofficial) Pillar of Lifestyle Medicine.American journal of lifestyle medicineArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWe previously found that a forest bathing (shinrin-yoku) program significantly reduced the scores for depression, anxiety, anger, fatigue, and confusion and increased the score for vigor in the profile of mood states (POMS) test and showed a potential preventive effect on the depressive status in both males and females. In the present study, we investigated the effects of a forest bathing program on the level of serotonin in serum, depressive symptoms and subjective sleep quality in middle-aged males.
methodsTwenty healthy male subjects aged 57.3 ± 8.4 years were selected after obtaining informed consent. These subjects took day trips to a forest park, the birthplace of forest bathing in Japan named Akasawa Shizen Kyuyourin, Agematsu, Nagano Prefecture (situated in central Japan), and to an urban area of Nagano Prefecture as a control in June 2019. On both trips, they walked 2.5 km for 2 hours each in the morning and afternoon on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Blood was sampled in the afternoon before and after each trip. Concentrations of serotonin and lactic acid in serum were measured. The POMS test and a questionnaire for subjective sleep quality were conducted before and after the trips. Ambient temperature and humidity were monitoring during the trips. The Ethics Committees of the Nippon Medical School and Nagano Prefectural Kiso Hospital approved this study.
resultsThe forest bathing program significantly increased level of serotonin in serum, and significantly increased the score for vigor and decreased the score for fatigue in the POMS test. The forest bathing program also improved the sleepiness on rising and feeling refreshed (recovery from fatigue) in the Oguri-Shirakawa-Azumi sleep inventory MA version (OSA-MA).
conclusionsTaken together, the present study suggests that forest bathing may have potential preventive effects on depression (depressive status).
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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.