title: Place, green exercise and stress: An exploration of lived experience and restorative effects.
abstract: This paper reports on inter-disciplinary research designed to investigate the stress-buffering effects of green exercise, and the importance of the context in which exercise takes place. This investigation of context effects examines both individual physiological responses (salivary cortisol) and the phenomenological interpretation of lived experiences of the intervention, reported by a subsample of participants in a randomized, controlled trial, in which healthy, physically inactive university students were randomly allocated to three activities: walking on a treadmill in a gym, walking in semi-natural recreational area, and sitting and watching nature-based videos on TV. The study found clear indications of context effects, notably in the connections between positive appraisals of perceived circumstances, enjoyment in the enacted context, and physiological stress-reduction.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health and Behavior, Research Unit INSIDE, University of Luxembourg, Faculté des Lettres, des Sciences Humaines, des Arts et des Sciences de l'Education, Maison des Sciences Humaines, 11, Porte des Sciences, L-4366 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg; Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Rennes Drive, Exeter EX4 4RJ, U.K.. Electronic address: gunnthora@hi.is.
authors.forename: Gunnthora
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Olafsdottir
authors.affiliation: Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Rennes Drive, Exeter EX4 4RJ, U.K.. Electronic address: p.cloke@exeter.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cloke
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health and Behavior, Research Unit INSIDE, University of Luxembourg, Faculté des Lettres, des Sciences Humaines, des Arts et des Sciences de l'Education, Maison des Sciences Humaines, 11, Porte des Sciences, L-4366 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg. Electronic address: claus.voegele@uni.lu.
authors.forename: Claus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vögele
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D004777:Environment; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D000068316:Parks, Recreational; D012463:Saliva; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016138:Walking / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Context effects; Green exercise; Lived experience; Restorative environment; Stress responses