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Effects of forest walking on physical and mental health in elderly populations: a systematic review.

Reviews on environmental health
January 1, 1970
Giovanni Piva et al. (10 authors)
Systematic ReviewJournal ArticleReviewHuman Study
Study Details

Study Goal

The researchers aimed to identify the most effective type, duration, and frequency of forest therapies, including walking, for improving physiological and psychological health in elderly populations.

Results Summary

Forest walking, alone or combined with other activities, was found to be the most effective intervention, improving physical health (e.g., reduced blood pressure and heart rate) and psychological well-being (e.g., reduced depression and stress). However, the lack of high-quality studies limits the strength of these findings.

Population

Healthy and pathological elderly populations (>60 years).

Effective Dosage

Not specified

Duration

Not specified

Interactions

None mentioned

Extracted Claims (8)
InterventionDirectionEndpointPopulationDosageImpactClaim #
forest walking
increase
physical components
healthy and pathological elderly populations (>60 years)
-
positive impact
#1
forest walking
decrease
blood pressure
healthy and pathological elderly populations (>60 years)
-
reduction
#2
forest walking
decrease
heart rate
healthy and pathological elderly populations (>60 years)
-
reduction
#3
forest walking
increase
cardiopulmonary parameters
healthy and pathological elderly populations (>60 years)
-
improvements
#4
forest walking
increase
neurochemical parameters
healthy and pathological elderly populations (>60 years)
-
improvements
#5
forest walking
increase
depression
healthy and pathological elderly populations (>60 years)
-
improvements
#6
forest walking
increase
stress levels
healthy and pathological elderly populations (>60 years)
-
improvements
#7
forest walking
increase
quality of life perception
healthy and pathological elderly populations (>60 years)
-
improvements
#8
Abstract

There is a growing awareness that spending time in nature is associated with improvement of well-being; nevertheless, the prescription of forest bathing is still limited. The aim of this systematic review was to explore the physiological and psychological benefits of different forest therapies on healthy and pathological elderly populations (>60 years) to identify the most-effective type, duration, and frequency of these interventions. A search for literature was carried out in December 2021 using PubMed, EMBASE, ResearchGate, Google Scholar and Web of Science. Grey literature was searched as well. After removal of the duplicates, within the 214 articles identified, ten met the inclusion criteria. The methodological quality of the selected studies was rated. Forest walking, alone and in combination with other activities is the most effective intervention. The selected studies reported a positive impact on physical components, including reduction in blood pressure and heart rate and improvements in cardiopulmonary and neurochemical parameters. Favorable modifications have also been noted in the psychological field, with improvements in depression, stress levels and in quality of life perception. In conclusion, forest walking may play an important role in promoting physical and mental health in healthy and pathological elderly populations. However, the lack of high-quality studies limits the strength of the results, calling for more trials.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
AgedHumansMental HealthQuality of LifeForestsWalking
Study Links
Quality Scores
Safety90
Efficacy80/10
Quality70/10
Citation Metrics
Total Citations12
Citations/Year4.0
Relative Citation Ratio2.01
NIH Percentile74.7%
Research Impact Scores
APT Score0.75
Weight Score1.55
Normalized Score0.82
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