Institute of Bioeconomy, National Research Council, 10 Via Madonna del Piano, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
Italian Alpine Club, 19 Via E. Petrella, I-20124 Milano, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Sep 9;18(18):9509. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18189509.
Immersion in forest environments was shown to produce beneficial effects to human health, in particular psychophysical relaxation, leading to its growing recognition as a form of integrative medicine. However, limited evidence exists about the statistical significance of the effects and their association with external and environmental variables and personal characteristics. This experimental study aimed to substantiate the very concept of forest therapy by means of the analysis of the significance of its effects on the mood states of anxiety, depression, anger and confusion. Seven forest therapy sessions were performed in remote areas and a control one in an urban park, with participants allowed to attend only one session, resulting in 162 psychological self-assessment questionnaires administered before and after each session. Meteorological comfort, the concentration of volatile organic compounds in the forest atmosphere and environmental coherence were identified as likely important external and environmental variables. Under certain conditions, forest therapy sessions performed in remote sites were shown to outperform the control session, at least for anxiety, anger and confusion. A quantitative analysis of the association of the outcomes with personal sociodemographic characteristics revealed that only sporting habits and age were significantly associated with the outcomes for certain psychological domains.
森林环境沉浸被证明对人类健康有益，特别是对身心放松有积极影响，因此越来越被认为是一种整合医学形式。然而，关于其影响的统计学意义及其与外部和环境变量以及个人特征的关联的证据有限。本实验研究旨在通过分析森林疗法对焦虑、抑郁、愤怒和困惑等情绪状态的影响的意义来证实森林疗法的概念。在偏远地区进行了七次森林疗法，在城市公园进行了一次对照治疗，参与者只能参加一次治疗，因此在每次治疗前后共进行了 162 次心理自我评估问卷调查。气象舒适度、森林大气中挥发性有机化合物的浓度和环境连贯性被确定为可能的重要外部和环境变量。在某些条件下，在偏远地区进行的森林疗法治疗在缓解焦虑、愤怒和困惑方面优于对照治疗。对结果与个人社会人口统计学特征的关联进行定量分析表明，只有运动习惯和年龄与某些心理领域的结果显著相关。
