IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v10y2013i4p1250-1267d24548.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Influence of Urban Natural and Built Environments on Physiological and Psychological Measures of Stress— A Pilot Study

Author

Listed:
  • Kurt Beil

    (Helfgott Research Institute, National College of Natural Medicine, Portland, OR 97201, USA)

  • Douglas Hanes

    (Helfgott Research Institute, National College of Natural Medicine, Portland, OR 97201, USA)

Abstract

Environments shape health and well-being, yet little research has investigated how different real-world environmental settings influence the well-known determinant of health known as stress. Using a cross-over experimental design; this pilot study investigated the effect of four urban environments on physiological and psychological stress measures. Participants (N = 15) were exposed on separate days to one of the four settings for 20 min. These settings were designated as Very Natural; Mostly Natural; Mostly Built and Very Built. Visitation order to the four settings was individually randomized. Salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase; as well as self-report measures of stress; were collected before and after exposure to each setting. Gender was included as a variable in analysis; and additional data about environmental self-identity, pre-existing stress, and perceived restorativeness of settings were collected as measures of covariance. Differences between environmental settings showed greater benefit from exposure to natural settings relative to built settings; as measured by pre-to-post changes in salivary amylase and self-reported stress; differences were more significant for females than for males. Inclusion of covariates in a regression analysis demonstrated significant predictive value of perceived restorativeness on these stress measures, suggesting some potential level of mediation. These data suggest that exposure to natural environments may warrant further investigation as a health promotion method for reducing stress.

Suggested Citation

  • Kurt Beil & Douglas Hanes, 2013. "The Influence of Urban Natural and Built Environments on Physiological and Psychological Measures of Stress— A Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:10:y:2013:i:4:p:1250-1267:d:24548
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/4/1250/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/4/1250/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Satvinder Dhingra & Tara Strine & James Holt & Joyce Berry & Ali Mokdad, 2009. "Rural-urban variations in psychological distress: findings from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2007," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 54(1), pages 16-22, June.
    2. Bjørn Grinde & Grete Grindal Patil, 2009. "Biophilia: Does Visual Contact with Nature Impact on Health and Well-Being?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 6(9), pages 1-12, August.
    3. Jesper J. Alvarsson & Stefan Wiens & Mats E. Nilsson, 2010. "Stress Recovery during Exposure to Nature Sound and Environmental Noise," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-11, March.
    4. Dannenberg, A.L. & Jackson, R.J. & Frumkin, H. & Schieber, R.A. & Pratt, M. & Kochtitzky, C. & Tilson, H.H., 2003. "The Impact of Community Design and Land-Use Choices on Public Health: A Scientific Research Agenda," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(9), pages 1500-1508.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hyunju Jo & Chorong Song & Yoshifumi Miyazaki, 2019. "Physiological Benefits of Viewing Nature: A Systematic Review of Indoor Experiments," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-23, November.
    2. Daniel Steele & Edda Bild & Cynthia Tarlao & Catherine Guastavino, 2019. "Soundtracking the Public Space: Outcomes of the Musikiosk Soundscape Intervention," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-38, May.
    3. Amber L. Pearson & Victoria Breeze & Aaron Reuben & Gwen Wyatt, 2021. "Increased Use of Porch or Backyard Nature during COVID-19 Associated with Lower Stress and Better Symptom Experience among Breast Cancer Patients," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-13, August.
    4. Katherine King, 2013. "Jane Jacobs and ‘The Need for Aged Buildings’: Neighbourhood Historical Development Pace and Community Social Relations," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(12), pages 2407-2424, September.
    5. Lars Even Egner & Stefan Sütterlin & Giovanna Calogiuri, 2020. "Proposing a Framework for the Restorative Effects of Nature through Conditioning: Conditioned Restoration Theory," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-18, September.
    6. Hyoyoung Kang & Youngran Chae, 2021. "Effects of Integrated Indirect Forest Experience on Emotion, Fatigue, Stress, and Immune Function in Hemodialysis Patients," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-12, February.
    7. Dadashpoor, Hashem & Sajadi, Afshin, 2024. "Principles of just urban land use planning," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    8. Jiayi Jiang & Zhengwei Xia & Xiaodi Sun & Xuanxuan Wang & Shixian Luo, 2022. "Social Infrastructure and Street Networks as Critical Infrastructure for Aging Friendly Community Design: Mediating the Effect of Physical Activity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-16, September.
    9. Kamila Czepczor-Bernat & Justyna Modrzejewska & Adriana Modrzejewska & Viren Swami, 2022. "The Impact of a Woodland Walk on Body Image: A Field Experiment and an Assessment of Dispositional and Environmental Determinants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-13, November.
    10. Lingbo Liu & Yuni Zhong & Siya Ao & Hao Wu, 2019. "Exploring the Relevance of Green Space and Epidemic Diseases Based on Panel Data in China from 2007 to 2016," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-21, July.
    11. Tommy Haugan & Sally Muggleton & Arnhild Myhr, 2021. "Psychological distress in late adolescence: The role of inequalities in family affluence and municipal socioeconomic characteristics in Norway," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(7), pages 1-25, July.
    12. Alenka Fikfak & Martina Zbašnik-Senegačnik & Samo Drobne, 2022. "Greenery as an Element of Imageability in Window Views," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-16, November.
    13. Junfang Xie & Binyi Liu & Mohamed Elsadek, 2021. "How Can Flowers and Their Colors Promote Individuals’ Physiological and Psychological States during the COVID-19 Lockdown?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-15, September.
    14. Eva Sahlin & Gunnar Ahlborg & Josefa Vega Matuszczyk & Patrik Grahn, 2014. "Nature-Based Stress Management Course for Individuals at Risk of Adverse Health Effects from Work-Related Stress—Effects on Stress Related Symptoms, Workability and Sick Leave," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-26, June.
    15. Mahbubur Meenar & Megan Heckert & Deepti Adlakha, 2022. "“Green Enough Ain’t Good Enough:” Public Perceptions and Emotions Related to Green Infrastructure in Environmental Justice Communities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-17, January.
    16. Alexander Karl Ferdinand Loder & Josef Gspurning & Christoph Paier & Mireille Nicoline Maria van Poppel, 2020. "Objective and Perceived Neighborhood Greenness of Students Differ in Their Agreement in Home and Study Environments," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-12, May.
    17. Saba Alnusairat & Jenan Abu Qadourah & Rawan Khattab, 2023. "Assessing the Future City Post COVID-19: Linking the SDGs, Health, Resilience, and Psychological Impact," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-24, January.
    18. Karolina Macháčková & Roman Dudík & Jiří Zelený & Dana Kolářová & Zbyněk Vinš & Marcel Riedl, 2021. "Forest Manners Exchange: Forest as a Place to Remedy Risky Behaviour of Adolescents: Mixed Methods Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-20, May.
    19. Shan Shu & Hui Ma, 2019. "Restorative Effects of Classroom Soundscapes on Children’s Cognitive Performance," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-15, January.
    20. Elmira Jamei & Khatereh Ahmadi & Hing Wah Chau & Mehdi Seyedmahmoudian & Ben Horan & Alex Stojcevski, 2021. "Urban Design and Walkability: Lessons Learnt from Iranian Traditional Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-14, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:10:y:2013:i:4:p:1250-1267:d:24548. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.