Previous research has demonstrated the positive associations between outdoor nature contact and stress reduction. However, similar effects of incorporating natural elements into indoor environment (i.e. biophilic design) have been less well studied. We hypothesize that exposure to biophilic indoor environments help people recover from stress and anxiety and those effects differ among different types of biophilic elements. To test these hypotheses, we conducted a between-subjects experiment with 100 participants using virtual reality (VR). Participants were randomly assigned to experience one of four virtual offices (i.e. one non-biophilic base office and three similar offices enhanced with different biophilic design elements) after stressor tasks. Their physiological indicators of stress reaction, including heart rate variability, heart rate, skin conductance level and blood pressure, were measured by bio-monitoring sensors. Their anxiety level was measured by using State-Trait Anxiety Inventory test (short version). We found that participants in biophilic indoor environments had consistently better recovery responses after stressor compare to those in the non-biophilic environment, in terms of reduction on stress and anxiety. Effects on physiological responses are immediate after exposure to biophilic environments with the larger impacts in the first four minutes of the 6-minute recovery process. Additionally, these restorative effects differ among three different types of indoor biophilic environments. This research provides evidence that biophilic design elements that impact stress recovery and anxiety. It also demonstrated the potential that virtual reality may be a way to bring nature and its therapeutic benefits to patients in hospitals.

中文翻译：

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亲生室内环境对压力和焦虑恢复的影响：虚拟现实中的受试者间实验。

先前的研究表明，户外自然接触与减少压力之间存在正相关关系。但是，将天然元素掺入室内环境的类似效果（即亲生物设计）的研究还很少。我们假设暴露在亲生物室内环境中可以帮助人们从压力和焦虑中恢复过来，并且这些影响在不同类型的亲生物元素之间有所不同。为了检验这些假设，我们使用虚拟现实（VR）与100名参与者进行了主题间实验。参与者被随机分配在压力任务后体验四个虚拟办公室之一（即一个非生物基础办公室和三个具有不同亲生物设计元素的类似办公室）。它们的应激反应生理指标包括心率变异性，心率，通过生物监测传感器测量皮肤电导水平和血压。他们的焦虑水平通过使用状态-特质焦虑量表测试（简短版）进行测量。我们发现，在缓解压力和焦虑方面，亲生室内环境中的参与者在应激源后的恢复反应始终优于非生物环境中的参与者。暴露于亲生物环境后，对生理反应的影响立即显现，在6分钟恢复过程的前4分钟内影响更大。此外，在三种不同类型的室内亲生物环境中，这些修复效果也有所不同。这项研究提供了亲生物的设计元素会影响压力恢复和焦虑的证据。