Immediate health and well-being benefits of short-term forest therapy for urban healthcare workers: A case study in Giant Panda National Park with cultural ecosystem services (CES)

PING ZHANG¹Yixin Cui²Rui Liu³Yifei Zhao¹Wenjun Su^4*Li Zhao¹Xiaohua Wang⁴Li Deng⁵Boya Wang¹Mingze Chen⁶Weiquan Guo⁴Lilin Song³Qingjie Zhang¹Fuxi Xie⁴Saixin Cao¹Guangyu Wang⁶Tongyao Zhang⁷Shihong Yang⁸Xi Li^1*

• ¹College of Landscape Architecture, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
• ²Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
• ³Tangjiahe Area of the Giant Panda National Park, Guangyuan, China
• ⁴Sichuan Forestry Central Hospital, Chengdu, China
• ⁵Texas A&M University, College Station, United States
• ⁶University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
• ⁷Whenchuan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wenchuan, China
• ⁸Forestry and Grassland Administration of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, China

The increasing frequency and prominence of global public health threats put urban healthcare workers at risk of physical and mental illness. Forest therapy holds crucial importance in promoting human health. Cultural ecosystem services (CES) profoundly influence human welfare. National parks, due to rich biodiversity and other favorable conditions, can support forest therapy and provide CES. This study organized 32 urban healthcare workers to participate in a forest therapy in the Giant Panda National Park (GPNP), which provides CES, and examined immediate changes in physical and mental health. Physiological indicators include respiratory and circulatory system, immune system, neurotransmitter system, physical fitness development, and sleep quality. Psychological indicators include self-restore and preferences, sensory perception, transcendent experiences, and personal subjective well-being. The results indicate that both forest bathing and sensory therapy may yield varying degrees of relaxation and concentration. Forest therapy in medium hydrodynamic landscapes may offer significant physiological relaxation, while sensory therapy in forest environment may enhance concentration levels. Activities in pristine ecological environments may be more effective in evoking positive emotions. This finding could potentially contribute to the rehabilitation treatment of individuals with depression. Results on respiratory and circulatory systems, immune systems, neurotransmitter systems remind us that culture and nature are not in conflict. Infusing cultural elements into sufficiently good ecological environments may bring greater benefits. This finding could aid future selections of therapeutic microenvironments for sub-health populations and individuals with respiratory diseases. This study also found that the most contributing activities to mental health in different environments were not exactly the same, with Baduanjin, plant nameplates and mandalas, and meditation on positive thoughts being highly contributing to both types of environments, while the landscape of smell was more contributing in the waterside environment, and embracing trees was more contributing in the forest environment. Additionally, the mental health benefits derived from natural environments with cultural ambiance surpass those of forest bathing in purely natural settings. The exploratory results may provide scientific evidence for the comprehensive impact of national parks on human health, and to offer feasible nature-based solutions for the health and well-being of urban healthcare workers and the broader population.