Place, green exercise and stress: An exploration of lived experience and restorative effects.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to investigate the stress-buffering effects of walking in different contexts (gym vs. semi-natural area) and its impact on physiological and phenomenological responses.
Results Summary
The study found context effects, with positive appraisals of perceived circumstances and enjoyment linked to physiological stress-reduction, particularly in semi-natural settings compared to treadmill walking or passive viewing.
Population
Healthy, physically inactive university students
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
Not specified
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
walking on a treadmill in a gym | decrease | physiological stress-reduction | healthy, physically inactive university students | - | clear indications of context effects | #1 |
walking in semi-natural recreational area | decrease | physiological stress-reduction | healthy, physically inactive university students | - | clear indications of context effects | #2 |
sitting and watching nature-based videos on TV | decrease | physiological stress-reduction | healthy, physically inactive university students | - | clear indications of context effects | #3 |
This paper reports on inter-disciplinary research designed to investigate the stress-buffering effects of green exercise, and the importance of the context in which exercise takes place. This investigation of context effects examines both individual physiological responses (salivary cortisol) and the phenomenological interpretation of lived experiences of the intervention, reported by a subsample of participants in a randomized, controlled trial, in which healthy, physically inactive university students were randomly allocated to three activities: walking on a treadmill in a gym, walking in semi-natural recreational area, and sitting and watching nature-based videos on TV. The study found clear indications of context effects, notably in the connections between positive appraisals of perceived circumstances, enjoyment in the enacted context, and physiological stress-reduction.