Graduate School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi 753-8511, Japan.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Dec 17;17(24):9465. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17249465.
Spending time in nature might positively influence mental health by inducing a relaxed state. Recently, gardens have been created on hospital rooftops in Japan to help inpatients recover from various physical and mental aliments. However, there is little evidence regarding any positive physiological effects of artificial gardens designed for health. The purpose of this study was to assess the psychological and cardiovascular responses incited by artificial natural environments. Japanese university students ( = 38) participated in a one-group pretest post-test experiment conducted at the Yamaguchi Flower Expo in Japan in October 2018, designed to assess whether exposure to four environments (forest, flowers, ocean, and artificial garden for health) influenced heart rate variability measures. After pretesting to determine baseline measurements, participants completed a circuit through the four natural environments. Following circuit completion, post-testing determined that the low frequency/high frequency ratio was significantly lower in the overall sample and the four areas had similar influences on heart rate variability. Findings suggest that exposure to nature by walking through natural areas and in rooftop artificial gardens might enhance the balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
花时间在大自然中可能会通过诱导放松状态对心理健康产生积极影响。最近，日本在医院屋顶上建造了花园，以帮助住院患者从各种身心疾病中康复。然而，对于为健康而设计的人工花园所产生的任何积极生理影响的证据很少。本研究的目的是评估人工自然环境引起的心理和心血管反应。2018 年 10 月，日本大学生（n = 38）参加了在日本山口花卉博览会上进行的一项单组前后测试实验，旨在评估暴露于四种环境（森林、花卉、海洋和健康人工花园）是否会影响心率变异性测量。在进行预测试以确定基线测量后，参与者完成了穿过四个自然环境的循环。循环完成后，测试表明，在整个样本中，低频/高频比显著降低，四个区域对心率变异性的影响相似。研究结果表明，通过在自然区域和屋顶人工花园中散步来接触自然可能会增强交感神经系统和副交感神经系统之间的平衡。
