The Psychological and Physical Effects of Forest-walking

1. The research investigated how a campus forest-walking system affect the physical and psychological health conditions of graduate and undergraduate students.

2. One of the hypotheses is that more parasympathetic nerve activities will be observed among the experimental group as compared to the control group.

3. In the above hypothesis, the dependent variable is the parasympathetic nerve activity.

4. This study is very important both to student and physical health workers. Many students do not engage in physical activities and thus, the study gives recommendations that can boost their psychological and physical health while in school. Also, it is one ways that students can use to reduce depression.

5. The researcher used a quasi-experimental study design having a control group with a pretest-posttest designs.

6. An experimental design has several advantages. One of them is that the researcher has an exclusive control over the variables of study.  Subjects are easily assigned between the different groups giving the researcher a chance to test effects individually.

7. This study was conducted between September 2014 and February 20155. The intervention was done for a period of six weeks where the forest-walk took place while recording the mental and physical effects on the participants.

8. For the control process the researcher conducted a pre-test a week prior to the experiment and a post-test done after the program. Follow up tests were also done after three months.

9. Participants were graduate and undergraduate students in a university based in Seoul, in South Korea.

10. The participants for this study got recruited through posting of notices by the use of emails and the university website. Those with medical contradictions got excluded from this study.

11. A total of 118 students, who were volunteers, participated in this research.

12. Assignment to control and experimental groups was made based on the preferences of each of the participants.

13. The alignment of participants to the different groups based on their choice is a likely cause of bias. It is not easy to achieve proper randomization given that the sample may not clearly represent the entire population.

14. On the basis of sample characteristics, the results of this study can be used to generalize for all students in HS2000. The standard deviation for the study is the same as compared to the class survey results.

15. Tests were done once a week for six weeks. Text message and lectures were used for encouragement. Wearable activity trackers were also used in the experimental group.

16. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form was used to measure physical activity.

17. Unlike the measure we used in class, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form is strong since its shows level of activity at leisure and work.

18. By some portable electrocardiograph.

19. The interaction effect in nerve activity was significant with F = 3.69, p = 0.027, ES = 0.20.

20. The sympathetic nerves are used to regulate physiological functions.

21. BMI to provide an insight on the relationship between mass and weight.

22. Mean = 1627.87 and 1758.23 respectively.

23. There is no significant relationship given that p=0.655.

24. The intervention reduced physical activity levels. The value of p changed with a big margin.

25. 7.86  and 7.50

26. There is no significant relationship between the two groups, p=0.738.

27. The intervention reduced the stress levels.

28. The hypothesis that more parasympathetic nerve activities will be observed among the experimental group as compared to the control group is supported given that the intervention brings a significant effect.

29. Forest walks improves students’ psychological health.

30. According to Bang et al. (2017), the forest walking is a useful program that will help students manage their stress by having the physiological processes stimulated.

Reference

Bang, K. S., Lee, I., Kim, S., Lim, C. S., Joh, H. K., Park, B. J., & Song, M. K. (2017). The effects of a campus Forest-Walking program on undergraduate and graduate students’ physical and psychological health. International journal of environmental research and public health, 14(7), 728.