Hedblom, Marcus
- Institutionen för skoglig resurshushållning, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
- Institutionen för ekologi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
Sammanfattning
Although stress is an increasing global health problem in cities, urban green spaces can provide health benefits. There is, however, a lack of understanding of the link between physiological mechanisms and qualities of urban green spaces. Here, we compare the effects of visual stimuli (360 degree virtual photos of an urban environment, forest, and park) to the effects of congruent olfactory stimuli (nature and city odours) and auditory stimuli (bird songs and noise) on physiological stress recovery. Participants (N = 154) were pseudo-randomised into participating in one of the three environments and subsequently exposed to stress (operationalised by skin conductance levels). The park and forest, but not the urban area, provided significant stress reduction. High pleasantness ratings of the environment were linked to low physiological stress responses for olfactory and to some extent for auditory, but not for visual stimuli. This result indicates that olfactory stimuli may be better at facilitating stress reduction than visual stimuli. Currently, urban planners prioritise visual stimuli when planning open green spaces, but urban planners should also consider multisensory qualities.
Publicerad i
Scientific Reports
2019, volym: 9, artikelnummer: 10113
Utgivare: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
SLU författare
Associerade SLU-program
Naturupplevelser och hälsa
Globala målen (SDG)
SDG3 God hälsa och välbefinnande
SDG11 Hållbara städer och samhällen
UKÄ forskningsämne
Arbetsmedicin och miljömedicin
Publikationens identifierare
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-46099-7
Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/101027