The
world has become an urban society, with over half the world’s populations
living in urbanized areas. Historically, urbanization was related to positive
economic development and provided many opportunities such as education and good
infrastructure, but overexposure to stress caused mental health problems.
Urbanization negatively affects mental health by influencing increased
stressors and factors such as overcrowded and polluted environments, high noise
levels, higher crime rates, reduced social support, and lack of calming scenery.
Therefore, it is crucial to find ways of promoting mental health recovery in
daily life.
Forest
therapy has been proposed as one of the solutions for stress recovery and
health promotion and has recently received widespread attention as a novel approach
to achieving physiological and psychological relaxation. Connecting with
forests has been increasingly recognized as an effective method of dealing with
mental problems. Inspired by the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, or
“forest bathing,” forest therapy is the medically proven health effects of
exposure to forest environment. The Korea Forest Service has legitimized the
concept of forest therapy and defined forest therapy as “immune-strengthening
of the human body and health-promoting activities by utilizing various elements
of nature, such as scent and landscap. Many studies demonstrated forest
environments promote humans’ mental and physical health in many ways. For
example, spending time in a forest environment reduces pulse rate and blood
pressure, sympathetic nervous activity, and levels of salivary cortisol, and
increases parasympathetic nervous activity which relate to the immune system.
Studies also indicated that being in the forest can reduce negative emotion,
depression, anxiety, and stress, and increase positive emotion and self-esteem.
There
are generally two types of forest therapy. One is to walk or view the forest
alone without a guide and the other is to be accompanied by a guide. When
people visit the forest to improve their health, people participate in forest
walking or viewing forests individually or participating in a forest therapy
program, guided by the therapist with a license. A forest therapy program is a
set of structured activities and cognitive-behavioral therapy-based interventions
using various elements of the forest environment to mitigate stress and to
promote health. It is reported that, students who could see the natural
environment through dormitory windows performed better on tasks requiring
concentration than those who did not.
Bamboo
forests are a major type of non-wood forest and an integral part of forestry;
they are widely distributed in East and Southeast Asia and in African
countries. Bamboo forests are a versatile and important component of the
ecology, culture, and economy. Bamboo forests in different countries and
contexts have been proven to be the best option for both landscape restoration
and the supply of various ecosystem services. These forests supply more
ecosystem services than any other type of planted forest. Especially in recent
decades, the forest area of the world has been gradually reduced, while bamboo
forests have increased in area by 3% every year. Bamboo is well-known and the
most preferred plant in Chinese landscape design because of its unique
beautiful foliage and fast-growing characteristics.
A
study on bamboo forest therapy showed that the bamboo forest environment is
more natural, comfortable, open, and bright with pleasing ambient noise and
that it is better for psychological and physical relaxation. It has been found
that viewing bamboo plants resulted in significantly lower systolic and blood
pressures. A 15-minute walk in a bamboo forest was found to improve mood and
reduce anxiety.
According
to a recent study, compared with urban sites, bamboo forest sites may be
more conducive to decrease blood pressure and heart rate, and the viewing and
walking activities had a positive impact on people’s physiological indexes.
Studies on the effects of stress and the cardiovascular system indicated that
the forest environment significantly increased parasympathetic nervous activity
and significantly suppressed the sympathetic activity of participants compared
with the urban environment. Two-hours walking in the forest environments may
lower blood pressure by reducing sympathetic nerve activity and have beneficial
effects on blood adiponectin.
Sources
Zeng
C, Lyu B, Deng S, Yu Y, Li N, Lin W, Li D, Chen Q. Benefits of a Three-Day
Bamboo Forest Therapy Session on the Physiological Responses of University
Students. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 May 6;17(9):3238. doi:
10.3390/ijerph17093238. PMID: 32384727; PMCID: PMC7246605.
Kim
JG, Shin WS. Forest Therapy Alone or with a Guide: Is There a Difference
between Self-Guided Forest Therapy and Guided Forest Therapy Programs? Int J
Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jun 29;18(13):6957. doi:
10.3390/ijerph18136957. PMID: 34209647; PMCID: PMC8296901.