← All sources
Effects of Forest Therapy on Health Promotion among Middle-Aged Women: Focusing on Physiological Indicators
Non-randomised crossover-style field comparison in 53 middle-aged women: three-day forest-based versus urban programmes—paired analyses reported statistically significant increases in blood serotonin after the forest programme and non-significant vitamin D shifts; authors frame forest therapy as supporting stress-related health promotion.
Design
- Participants: 53 middle-aged women living in a city
- Sequence: one cohort 3 days forest then 3 days urban; the other 3 days urban then 3 days forest
- Setting: National Forest Therapy–style site vs university campus urban control
Biomarker outcomes (abstract narrative)
- Serotonin: statistically significant increases after the forest programme in paired tests
- Vitamin D: directionally higher after forest exposure but not statistically significant in paired analyses as reported
Evidence hygiene
- Small n, non-randomised sequence assignment—use as physiological hypothesis / field-pilot tier next to systematic reviews already linked on
forest-bathing, not as proof of long-term disease reduction.
Publication
Park BJ, Shin CS, Shin WS, et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Jun 17;17(12):4348. PMID 32560522.
Outcomes
- Effect Size (Cohen's d / SMD)Forest therapy programme associated with statistically significant increases in blood serotonin versus paired urban programme segments in 53 middle-aged women (Park et al. 2020 abstract).