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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在大自然中行走的健康益处：现实生活压力条件下的随机对照研究

我们调查了休闲暴露于自然环境对压力的情绪和心理生理反应的影响。我们假设，在大自然中散步比接触自然场景（在电视上看大自然）或单独进行体育锻炼（在健身房的跑步机上行走）具有恢复作用，并且当参与者预期压力更大。健康的大学生（N = 90）被随机分配到三个条件之一，并在免考试期间和考试期间再次进行测试。在干预之前和之后评估情绪和心理生理反应，并在实验室压力源之后再次评估。所有干预措施对皮质醇水平都有恢复作用（p < .001），然而，在考试期间，在大自然中行走会导致皮质醇水平低于自然观景 (p < .05)。在大自然中散步比观看自然风光 (p < .001) 或单独进行体育锻炼 (p < .05) 更能改善情绪。