Effect Of Forest Therapy Based On Environmental And Perceptual Factors

Forest therapy is an approach to the balance between ecological benefits and social benefits of forest.This research provides a basis for better health benefits of forest therapy by analyzing forest environment and public demand for health.The main contents and results show that:1)By characterizing and comparing the forest environment,this paper proves that at most moment of spring,summer and autumn,there is more comfortable and healthier environment in natural forest or plantations compared with control point,involving thermal,luminous,acoustic environment and air quality.There are differences between arbor species according to comprehensive assessment on environmental factors.Deciduous broad-leaf species Ginkgo biloba and Koelreuteria paoiculata have certain advantage in growing season;coniferous tree Pinus tabulaeformis is favorable for outdoor activities in summer,while its integrated comfort value is worse in autumn.2)With field survey about vegetation environment,space,mood and effect of forest therapy,analyze about crowd perception about forest environment.The most impotent impact factors are the degree of natural and health,cleanliness and coordination,unobstructedvision and sobriety.As a basis,an online questionnaire about perception on forest border,understory and ambient was issued.People prefer deciduous broad-leaf forests in growing season which have proper density,tall and graceful outlook and passable border;and give better evaluation on the degree of natural,health and coordination.Understory,health status of trees and seasonal varlation are also perceptual factors for the attraction of forest.3)Forest therapy has a positive on human’s physical and mental health,reflected in heart rate reducing(change rate-1.41～-11.50%for each reason and each plots),heart rate variability increase(rMMSD’s change rate 9.70?41.25%and SD1/SD2’s change rate 14.18%～50.00%),blood pressure reducing(pulse pressure’s change rate 0.91～-9.60%),blood oxygen level increase(0.2～2.03 percentage points),Perfusion index decrease(0.13～6.1)and mood disorder decrease(3.09～32,55 points).Different sample plots showed difference in degree of effect.Forest environment and crowd perception have a correlation with some of the physical and mental indexes.Promotion of environment quality and favorability indicate optimizing trend in physical and mental indexes.Based on these results,suggestions about developing forest therapy as an industry can be offered from different aspects,including efficient use of natural forest resources based on scientific assessment for environment,public approval increase based on crowd perception of environment,method and technique improvement based on actual physiological and psychological effect,and base construction conforming to the development pattern of urban forest in Beijing.