scholarly journals Psychological Benefits of Walking through Forest Areas

Author(s):  
Chorong Song ◽  
Harumi Ikei ◽  
Bum-Jin Park ◽  
Juyoung Lee ◽  
Takahide Kagawa ◽  
...  

This study aimed to clarify the psychological benefits of brief walks through forest areas. In addition, we aimed to examine the associations between psychological responses and trait anxiety levels. Five-hundred-and-eighty-five participants (mean age, 21.7 ± 1.6 years) were instructed to walk predetermined courses through forest (test) and city (control) areas for 15 min. The Profile of Mood State (POMS) questionnaire and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were used to assess participants’ psychological responses and trait anxiety levels, respectively. The results revealed that walking through forest areas decreased the negative moods of “depression-dejection”, “tension-anxiety”, “anger-hostility”, “fatigue”, and “confusion” and improved the participants’ positive mood of “vigor” compared with walking through city areas. Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between participants’ trait anxiety levels and their changes in the subscale of “depression-dejection” of POMS after walking through forest areas. A more effective reduction in the feeling of “depression-dejection” after walking through forest areas was observed for participants with high trait anxiety levels than for those with normal and low trait anxiety levels. This study showed the psychological benefits of walking through forest areas and identified a significant correlation between psychological responses to walking through forests and trait anxiety levels.

1983 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory P. Bauer ◽  
Robert S. Schlottmann ◽  
J. Vance Bates ◽  
Mark A. Masters

This study investigated the effects of state and trait anxiety on subjects' imitation of prestigious models. Female undergraduates were administered the Trait-anxiety scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and were then subjected either to anxiety inductions or relaxation procedures to manipulate state-anxiety levels. Four groups of 30 subjects each were obtained: high trait-high state, low trait-low state, high trait-low state, and low trait-high state. Subjects were then exposed to either a model of high prestige, one of low prestige, or a no-model condition. A visual fixation measure was taken to determine the amount of time subjects actually spent observing the model. A significant correlation was found between time spent observing the model and time taken to complete the maze. Subjects observing the model of high prestige tended to imitate the model's response style more than subjects observing one low in prestige. Highly trait-anxious subjects imitated more than low trait-anxious subjects when exposed to the model high in prestige. Since this study used only females, inferences to males should be made cautiously.


2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (4) ◽  
pp. 595-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Verschoor ◽  
Graham Finlayson ◽  
John Blundell ◽  
C. Rob Markus ◽  
Neil A. King

Serotonergic hypofunction is associated with a depressive mood state, an increased drive to eat and preference for sweet (SW) foods. High-trait anxiety individuals are characterised by a functional shortage of serotonin during stress, which in turn increases their susceptibility to experience a negative mood and an increased drive for SW foods. The present study examined whether an acute dietary manipulation, intended to increase circulating serotonin levels, alleviated the detrimental effects of a stress-inducing task on subjective appetite and mood sensations, and preference for SW foods in high-trait anxiety individuals. Thirteen high- (eleven females and two males; anxiety scores 45·5 (sd5·9); BMI 22·9 (sd3·0)kg/m2) and twelve low- (ten females and two males; anxiety scores 30·4 (sd4·8); BMI 23·4 (sd2·5) kg/m2) trait anxiety individuals participated in a placebo-controlled, two-way crossover design. Participants were provided with 40 g α-lactalbumin (LAC;l-tryptophan (Trp):large neutral amino acids (LNAA) ratio of 7·6) and 40 g casein (placebo) (Trp:LNAA ratio of 4·0) in the form of a snack and lunch on two test days. On both the test days, participants completed a stress-inducing task 2 h after the lunch. Mood and appetite were assessed using visual analogue scales. Changes in food hedonics for different taste and nutrient combinations were assessed using a computer task. The results demonstrated that the LAC manipulation did not exert any immediate effects on mood or appetite. However, LAC did have an effect on food hedonics in individuals with high-trait anxiety after acute stress. These individuals expressed a lower liking (P = 0·012) and SW food preference (P = 0·014) after the stressful task when supplemented with LAC.


Author(s):  
Chorong Song ◽  
Harumi Ikei ◽  
Bum-Jin Park ◽  
Juyoung Lee ◽  
Takahide Kagawa ◽  
...  

The aim of this study was to validate the psychological advantages of viewing forest landscapes. Moreover, the associations between trait anxiety levels and psychological responses were evaluated. A total of 650 university male students (age, 21.7 ± 1.6 years) viewed a scenery in a forested area and an urban area for 15 min. Furthermore, the Profile of Mood States questionnaire and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were employed for the assessment of the psychological responses and the level of trait anxiety, respectively, of the participants. Results showed that compared with viewing a city area, viewing forest areas increased positive mood state, such as vigor, and decreased negative mood states. Furthermore, trait anxiety level and changes in the psychological responses such as depression–dejection, fatigue, and confusion after viewing forest landscapes were significantly correlated. The participants with high anxiety levels had greater reduction in negative mood state, including confusion, than those with low anxiety levels. In conclusion, viewing forest landscapes induced psychological relaxation, which was more evident in individuals with high anxiety levels.


1981 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 363-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony E. Bass ◽  
Wiley Mittenberg ◽  
Jerry Petersen

42 undergraduates completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and then received biofeedback for increases in index finger-skin temperature. Subjects with high-trait anxiety increased their temperature significantly more than subjects with low-trait anxiety. No significant differences were found among state anxiety groups. The results supported the conclusion that predisposition to anxiety (trait), and not situational (state) anxiety, improves peripheral vasomotor control.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arjun Ramakrishnan ◽  
Adam Pardes ◽  
William Lynch ◽  
Christopher Molaro ◽  
Michael Louis Platt

AbstractAnxiety and stress-related disorders are highly prevalent and debilitating conditions that impose an enormous burden on society. Sensitive measurements that can enable early diagnosis could mitigate suffering and potentially prevent onset of these conditions. Self-reports, however, are intrusive and vulnerable to biases that can conceal the true internal state. Physiological responses, on the other hand, manifest spontaneously and can be monitored continuously, providing potential objective biomarkers for anxiety and stress. Recent studies have shown that algorithms trained on physiological measurements can predict stress states with high accuracy. Whether these predictive algorithms generalize to untested situations and participants, however, remains unclear. Further, whether biomarkers of momentary stress indicate trait anxiety – a vulnerability foreshadowing development of anxiety and mood disorders – remains unknown. To address these gaps, we monitored skin conductance, heart rate, heart rate variability and EEG in 39 participants experiencing physical and social stress and compared these measures to non-stressful periods of talking, rest, and playing a simple video game. Self-report measures were obtained periodically throughout the experiment. A support vector machine trained on physiological measurements identified stress conditions with ~96% accuracy. A decision tree that optimally combined physiological and self-report measures identified individuals with high trait anxiety with ~84% accuracy. Individuals with high trait anxiety also displayed high baseline state anxiety but a muted physiological response to acute stressors. Overall, these results demonstrate the potential for using machine learning tools to identify objective biomarkers useful for diagnosing and monitoring mental health conditions like anxiety and depression.


Author(s):  
Timothy J Meeker ◽  
Nichole M. Emerson ◽  
Jui-Hong Chien ◽  
Mark I. Saffer ◽  
Oscar Joseph Bienvenu ◽  
...  

A pathological increase in vigilance, or hypervigilance, may be related to pain intensity in some clinical pain syndromes and may result from attention bias to salient stimuli mediated by anxiety. During a continuous performance task where subjects discriminated painful target stimuli from painful nontargets, we measured detected targets (hits), nondetected targets (misses), nondetected nontargets (correct rejections), and detected nontargets (false alarms). Using signal detection theory, we calculated response bias, the tendency to endorse a stimulus as a target, and discriminability, the ability to discriminate a target from nontarget. Due to the relatively slow rate of stimulus presentation our primary hypothesis was that sustained performance would result in a more conservative response bias reflecting a lower response rate over time on task. We found a more conservative response bias with time on task and no change in discriminability. We predicted that greater state and trait anxiety would lead to a more liberal response bias. A multivariable model provided partial support for our prediction; high trait anxiety related to a more conservative response bias (lower response rate), while high state anxiety related to a more liberal bias. This inverse relationship of state and trait anxiety is consistent with reports of effects of state and trait anxiety on reaction times to threatening stimuli. In sum, we report that sustained attention to painful stimuli was associated with a decrease in the tendency of the subject to respond to any stimulus over time on task, while the ability to discriminate target from nontarget is unchanged.


2021 ◽  
pp. 000992282110406
Author(s):  
Zeynep Reyhan Onay ◽  
Tugba Ramasli Gursoy ◽  
Tugba Sismanlar Eyuboglu ◽  
Ayse Tana Aslan ◽  
Azime Sebnem Soysal Acar ◽  
...  

We aim to evaluate the anxiety levels of caregivers of children with tracheostomy during the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic. Caregivers of 31 children with tracheostomy and 105 healthy children (control group) were included. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was administered via teleconference in order to investigate how participants describe how they feel at a particular moment (State) and how they generally feel (Trait). The trait anxiety levels of caregivers of children with tracheostomy were significantly higher ( P = .02). Their state anxiety levels were similar. The state and trait anxiety levels of caregivers of children with tracheostomy correlated ( r = 0.70, P < .001). At the end of the teleconference, caregivers of children with tracheostomy experienced greater anxiety relief than controls ( P < .001). Trait anxiety scores were higher among caregivers of children with tracheostomy, but their state anxiety levels were comparable to those of controls. Caregivers with high trait anxiety also exhibited high state anxiety. Informing caregivers of children with tracheostomy about COVID-19 via teleconference can reduce their anxiety during such stressful times.


1970 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilma J. Knox ◽  
Ricardo Grippaldi

Upon entering a VA domiciliary Ss were given the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and WAIS subtests, Arithmetic ( A), Similarities ( S) and Digit Span ( DS). Two analyses of variance were carried out among WAIS weighted scores on the three subtests for three groups of different state or trait anxiety levels (high, medium, and low). Analyses showed significant interactions between WAIS scaled scores and anxiety: p < .05 for state anxiety and p < .001 for trait anxiety. The high-anxiety group in each instance showed the classical expectation of a lower A and DS in comparison to S; performance on DS was highest for each medium anxiety group. The study of curvilinear relationships and interaction effects in anxiety was discussed.


Author(s):  
Mally Shechory ◽  
Sarah Ben-David

This study expands the empirical and theoretical understanding of the distinction between those who perpetrate sexual assaults against children (child molesters) and those who perpetrate them against adults (rapists). Two questionnaires were completed by 88 incarcerated, male sexual offenders (45 child molesters and 43 rapists): the Spielberger state trait anxiety inventory and the Buss-Durkee hostility inventory. It was found that the rapists' level of aggression was significantly higher than that of the child molesters. No significant differences in anxiety levels were found between the two groups. The results are discussed in terms of their relevance to theory and clinical practice.


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