Health Benefits of Walking in Nature: A Randomized Controlled Study Under Conditions of Real-Life Stress

Gunnthora Olafsdottir; Paul Cloke; André Schulz; Zoé van Dyck; Thor Eysteinsson; Björg Thorleifsdottir; Claus Vögele

doi:10.1177/0013916518800798

Health Benefits of Walking in Nature: A Randomized Controlled Study Under Conditions of Real-Life Stress

Gunnthora Olafsdottir^*, Paul Cloke, André Schulz, Zoé van Dyck, Thor Eysteinsson, Björg Thorleifsdottir, Claus Vögele

^*Corresponding author for this work

Faculty of Medicine

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We investigated the effects of recreational exposure to the natural environment on mood and psychophysiological responses to stress. We hypothesized that walking in nature has restorative effects over and above the effects of exposure to nature scenes (viewing nature on TV) or physical exercise alone (walking on a treadmill in a gym) and that these effects are greater when participants were expected to be more stressed. Healthy university students (N = 90) were randomly allocated to one of three conditions and tested during an exam-free period and again during their exam time. Mood and psychophysiological responses were assessed before and after the interventions, and again after a laboratory stressor. All interventions had restorative effects on cortisol levels (p <.001), yet walking in nature resulted in lower cortisol levels than did nature viewing (p <.05) during the exam period. Walking in nature improved mood more than watching nature scenes (p <.001) or physical exercise alone (p <.05).

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	248-274
Number of pages	27
Journal	Environment and Behavior
Volume	52
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916518800798
Publication status	Published - 1 Apr 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank the Department of Physiology, University of Iceland, for housing the fieldwork in Iceland. Much gratitude is also extended to Sveinbj?rn Yngvi Gestsson, Sascha Helsper, Logi J?nsson, Lilja Gu?r?n Steinsd?ttir, Anna Gu?mundsd?ttir, ?g?sta Johnson, Hreyfing ehf, Helgi G?slason, Reykjavik Forestry Association, J?n Sigurdsson, Nicole Knoblauch, Elizabeth Cook, and the National University Hospital of Iceland for supporting this research. Unnur Valdimarsdottir, University of Iceland, and Marcia Worrell, Roehampton University, had input at the development stage of the study. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was funded by the Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg (AFR ref. 3965162) and the University of Luxembourg (Internal Research Funding F3R-INS-PUL-13BREA/BREATH).

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2018.

Other keywords

environmental psychology
mental and physical health
natural environments
psychological wellbeing
psychophysiology
restorative environments
stress
walking
Streita
Gönguferðir
Náttúran

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10.1177/0013916518800798

Cite this

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title = "Health Benefits of Walking in Nature: A Randomized Controlled Study Under Conditions of Real-Life Stress",

abstract = "We investigated the effects of recreational exposure to the natural environment on mood and psychophysiological responses to stress. We hypothesized that walking in nature has restorative effects over and above the effects of exposure to nature scenes (viewing nature on TV) or physical exercise alone (walking on a treadmill in a gym) and that these effects are greater when participants were expected to be more stressed. Healthy university students (N = 90) were randomly allocated to one of three conditions and tested during an exam-free period and again during their exam time. Mood and psychophysiological responses were assessed before and after the interventions, and again after a laboratory stressor. All interventions had restorative effects on cortisol levels (p <.001), yet walking in nature resulted in lower cortisol levels than did nature viewing (p <.05) during the exam period. Walking in nature improved mood more than watching nature scenes (p <.001) or physical exercise alone (p <.05).",

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author = "Gunnthora Olafsdottir and Paul Cloke and Andr{\'e} Schulz and {van Dyck}, Zo{\'e} and Thor Eysteinsson and Bj{\"o}rg Thorleifsdottir and Claus V{\"o}gele",

note = "Funding Information: We thank the Department of Physiology, University of Iceland, for housing the fieldwork in Iceland. Much gratitude is also extended to Sveinbj?rn Yngvi Gestsson, Sascha Helsper, Logi J?nsson, Lilja Gu?r?n Steinsd?ttir, Anna Gu?mundsd?ttir, ?g?sta Johnson, Hreyfing ehf, Helgi G?slason, Reykjavik Forestry Association, J?n Sigurdsson, Nicole Knoblauch, Elizabeth Cook, and the National University Hospital of Iceland for supporting this research. Unnur Valdimarsdottir, University of Iceland, and Marcia Worrell, Roehampton University, had input at the development stage of the study. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was funded by the Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg (AFR ref. 3965162) and the University of Luxembourg (Internal Research Funding F3R-INS-PUL-13BREA/BREATH). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2018.",

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AU - Thorleifsdottir, Björg

AU - Vögele, Claus

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N2 - We investigated the effects of recreational exposure to the natural environment on mood and psychophysiological responses to stress. We hypothesized that walking in nature has restorative effects over and above the effects of exposure to nature scenes (viewing nature on TV) or physical exercise alone (walking on a treadmill in a gym) and that these effects are greater when participants were expected to be more stressed. Healthy university students (N = 90) were randomly allocated to one of three conditions and tested during an exam-free period and again during their exam time. Mood and psychophysiological responses were assessed before and after the interventions, and again after a laboratory stressor. All interventions had restorative effects on cortisol levels (p <.001), yet walking in nature resulted in lower cortisol levels than did nature viewing (p <.05) during the exam period. Walking in nature improved mood more than watching nature scenes (p <.001) or physical exercise alone (p <.05).

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KW - Náttúran

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Health Benefits of Walking in Nature: A Randomized Controlled Study Under Conditions of Real-Life Stress

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Other keywords

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