To Örebro University

oru.seÖrebro University Publications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Psychological benefits of green exercise in wild or urban greenspaces: A meta-analysis of controlled trials
Institute of Sports Science, College of Physical Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Department of Basketball and Volleyball, Chengdu Sport University, Chengdu, China.
National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Örebro University, School of Medical Sciences. Örebro University Hospital. Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medical Sciences, Örebro Universitet, Örebro, Sweden; Unit of Integrative Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3552-9153
Show others and affiliations
2022 (English)In: Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, ISSN 1618-8667, E-ISSN 1610-8167, Vol. 68, article id 127458Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Green exercise, the combination of exercise and nature exposure, is known to benefit physical and mental health. However, there is a lack of quantitative evidence to support the psychological advantage of green exercise over non-green exercise. Also, it is unclear if there are psychological differences between green exercise in wild environments and urban greenspaces. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature search for outcomes concerning measures including the Profile of Mood States (POMS), Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Semantic Differential Method (SDM), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and Restorative Outcome Scale (ROS). Nineteen studies with 1662 participants were included in a meta-analysis to examine the advantages of green exercise and compare them in the two types of natural environments. The results indicate that green exercise may lower negative affect, including anxiety, tension, anger, depression, and fatigue. Meanwhile, green exercise may lead to higher positive moods and emotions, including vigor, comfort, natural feeling, and relaxation. Nevertheless, the effect on overall positive affect was not statistically significant. The comparative results suggest that wild environments may be more effective than urban greenspaces in improving vigor and comfort during green exercise. In conclusion, our findings support the advantages of green exercise over non-green exercise, meanwhile implying potential psychological differences between exercises in wild environments and urban greenspaces. Due to the limited number of studies and high heterogeneities, a future review is warranted to re-examine the psychological benefits.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2022. Vol. 68, article id 127458
Keywords [en]
Green exercise, Wild, Urban greenspace, Psychological measures, Meta-analysis
National Category
Psychiatry
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-99052DOI: 10.1016/j.ufug.2022.127458ISI: 000789606400007Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85123262364OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-99052DiVA, id: diva2:1658648
Available from: 2022-05-17 Created: 2022-05-17 Last updated: 2023-08-17Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Cao, Yang

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Cao, YangZhang, Guodong
By organisation
School of Medical SciencesÖrebro University Hospital
In the same journal
Urban Forestry & Urban Greening
Psychiatry

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 105 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf