ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1631613
This article is part of the Research TopicNational Park Health Value and Natural TherapyView all articles
Therapeutic effects of forest bathing on elderly patients with essential hypertension: Evidence from a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest
Provisionally accepted
- 1Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Hangzhou, China
- 2Qianjiangyuan National Park Administration Bureau, Quzhou, China
- 3Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan
- 4Department of Geriatrics, Zhejiang Hospital, Hangzhou, China
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Forest bathing (Shinrin-Yoku) has gained growing attention in medical and therapeutic tourism research due to its potential benefits in managing chronic diseases, such as hypertension. This empirical study examined the therapeutic effects of forest bathing on elderly patients with essential hypertension. A total of 36 participants were randomly assigned to either a forest environment (experimental group, n = 24) or an urban setting (control group, n = 12) for a three-day, two-night intervention. To minimize potential confounding factors, both groups followed identical dietary regimens, leisure activities, and sleep schedules throughout the intervention. Physiological and psychological assessments, including vital signs, inflammatory markers, heart rate variability (HRV), and mood states, were conducted at baseline and post-intervention. The results indicated that systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels were significantly lower in the experimental group compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Frequency domain parameters of HRV, specifically LF and the LF/HF ratio, significantly increased in the experimental group (p < 0.05). Additionally, psychological assessments revealed that participants exposed to the experimental group had significantly better emotional well-being. Specifically, tension-anxiety scores decreased significantly, while vigor-activity scores increased (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that forest bathing can serve as an effective non-pharmacological intervention for reducing blood pressure, improving autonomic function and mental health among elderly patients with essential hypertension. This study provides empirical evidence supporting the therapeutic potential of forest environments, particularly subtropical broad-leaved evergreen forests, in the integrated management of cardiovascular and mental health.
Keywords: Forest bathing, Elderly patients with essential hypertension, Subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest, blood pressure regulation, Heart rate variability, psychological well-being
Received: 20 May 2025; Accepted: 16 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Liu, Qian, Kun, Zhao, Uehara, Wang and Zhou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Guofu Wang, Department of Geriatrics, Zhejiang Hospital, Hangzhou, China
Benzhi Zhou, Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Hangzhou, China
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