title: Inducing physiological stress recovery with sounds of nature in a virtual reality forest--results from a pilot study.
abstract: Experimental research on stress recovery in natural environments is limited, as is study of the effect of sounds of nature. After inducing stress by means of a virtual stress test, we explored physiological recovery in two different virtual natural environments (with and without exposure to sounds of nature) and in one control condition. Cardiovascular data and saliva cortisol were collected. Repeated ANOVA measurements indicated parasympathetic activation in the group subjected to sounds of nature in a virtual natural environment, suggesting enhanced stress recovery may occur in such surroundings. The group that recovered in virtual nature without sound and the control group displayed no particular autonomic activation or deactivation. The results demonstrate a potential mechanistic link between nature, the sounds of nature, and stress recovery, and suggest the potential importance of virtual reality as a tool in this research field.
authors.affiliation: Department of Landscape Planning, Division of Work Science, Business Economics and Environmental Psychology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 230 53 Alnarp, Sweden. matilda.annerstedt@slu.se
authors.forename: Matilda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Annerstedt
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jönsson
authors.forename: Mattias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wallergård
authors.forename: Gerd
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Karlson
authors.forename: Patrik
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grahn
authors.forename: Ase Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Währborg
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001717:Birds; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019368:Nature; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D010865:Pilot Projects; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000502:physiology*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D014867:Water; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Cortisol; Green environment; Heart rate variability; Soundscape; TSST