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Glossary

Forest bathing

Defined in topic 27

Shinrin-yoku, named by a Japanese ministry in 1982. Its immune claims rest on very small unrandomized studies; the better-measured effects are modest short-term falls in cortisol and blood pressure.

Published Updated

Graded claims that mention Forest bathing

  • Does forest bathing work through tree chemicals?Enjoy the forest as relaxation, plausible though the size is uncertain; the tree-chemical immune story is unproven.Evidence grade: Emerging. Early, small, animal-only, or actively contested.

Where this comes from

In the reference topic that owns this term

Reference topic 27, The Green Prescription, states the mismatch as a card: what the system evolved to expect, what it gets instead, and what happens in the gap.

Mismatch card

What it expects

Daylight hours among plants, water and animals, with shade and people nearby.

What it gets

Most of life spent indoors, a view of a wall, and a city hotter and louder than the land it replaced.

What happens in the gap

Slower stress recovery, tired attention, more psychiatric diagnoses among children raised in the least green places, and extra heart and lung deaths where the trees go.

The full card, and the topic behind it

What that chapter recommends

3 of the 7 graded recommendations in Reference topic 27, strongest evidence first. How the grades work.

  1. About two hours a week in green or blue space (plants or water), in any pattern that suits you

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    Parks, woodland, riversides and beaches all counted in the English survey behind the figure, whose design cannot prove direction. Canada's PaRx program prescribes the same two hours, in stretches of at least 20 minutes.

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  2. If your mood is low, join something structured outdoors for 8 to 12 weeks

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    Sixteen randomized trials pooled to better depressive mood and anxiety, with standardized effect sizes of -0.64 and -0.94, in sessions of 20 to 90 minutes. Gardening delivered in its own trial.

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  3. Ask a clinician about a nature prescription

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    Across 92 studies, mostly at moderate to high risk of bias, prescriptions were followed by systolic (upper) blood pressure about 4.8 mmHg lower and around 900 more steps a day (Chapter 42).

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Related terms

The argument behind this term, its studies and its notes are in Reference topic 27 of the reference library. The book gives the practical version. Get the book.