Researchers have found that walking in the forest can relax one’s body and mind and, as a result, prevent cardiovascular disease. The research was jointly conducted by the Korea Forest Service along with Japanese and Finnish researchers.

In a survey of cardiovascular functions in 48 adult males, walking in the forest caused sympathetic neural activity to decline by 21.1 percent and the heart rate to fall by 5.3 percent, while parasympathetic activity rose by 15.8 percent. According to the research, forests ease negative feelings, such as rage, anxiety and fatigue, and increase positive emotions and vitality.


In many aspects of modern life, people see their sympathetic neural activity increase too much due to erratic hours and chronic stress. This can cause an unbalance in the autonomic nervous system and increase the chance of cardiovascular disease. So called “forest healing” can keep the sympathetic neural activity in balance and can reduce such risks.

“The research is meaningful in that it proves the effects of ‘forest healing’ from the viewpoint of complementary and alternative medicine,” said Lee Juyoung, a researcher at the Korea Forest Service.

The research into the therapeutic effects of forests and hiking will be featured in the latest edition of Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (eCAM), an international academic journal published by the University of Oxford.


By Limb Jae-un
Korea.net Staff Writer
jun2@korea.kr