The Influence of Different Forest Landscapes on Physiological and Psychological Recovery

Abstract

Previous studies have reported that exposure to forest landscapes has many benefits on human physiological and psychological health, as well as effectiveness in reducing stress and improving mood depending on different types of landscape. This study examined the effects of different types of forest landscapes for indirect visual experiences on the physical and mental health of college students (N = 33). Three types of landscape images were selected, in which forest landscapes included vegetated landscapes and water features, and as a control, we set up images of urban landscapes without natural elements. Physiological and psychological assessment was performed before the experiment for each student, followed by each student being exposed consecutively to nine landscape images for 3 min (each type) and assessed after each exposure. The results showed that both forest landscapes decreased stress (p < 0.05 for all) and improved mood and self-esteem (p < 0.01 for all). In contrast, water landscapes showed a slightly higher impact on physical and mental health than vegetated landscapes, but there was no significant difference. Conversely, only for self-esteem, the response after viewing vegetated landscapes (VL, SD = 29.06 ± 3.38) was better than after water views (WL, SD = 28.21 ± 2.48). Despite significant differences between the two types of forest landscapes not being found in our findings, the benefits of forest landscapes were observed through understanding the health-promoting capacities of different forest landscapes.