• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.104 no.1
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• pp.140-149
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• 2015

The aim of this study was to clarify the physiological and psychological effects of walking around and viewing a lake in a forest environment. The subjects included 11 male Japanese university students (age: $22.0{\pm}1.2$ years) who were randomly assigned to visit either a forest or an urban (control) setting. They were instructed to walk a predetermined 15-min course and to view the setting from a seated position for 15 min. Heart rate variability, heart rate, blood pressure, pulse rate, and salivary cortisol levels were measured to assess the subject's physiological responses to the environment. Four questionnaires (SD method, reports of "refreshed" feeling, POMS, and STAI) were administered to assess the subjects' psychological responses. It was found that walking around and viewing a lake in a forest environment can suppress sympathetic nerve activity, increase parasympathetic nerve activity, and decrease the heart rate, blood pressure, pulse rate, and cortisol levels. In addition, a forest environment can enhance the "comfortable," "soothing," "natural," and "refreshed" feelings, improve the mood state, and reduce anxiety. These results provide scientific evidence of the physiological and psychological effects of forest therapy.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2017

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of inhalation therapy using Zizyphus jujuba var. spinosa blended oil and spa therapy on stress in adults. Methods : The study design was a double blind, randomized, single center clinical trial. A total of 30 volunteers who were highly stressed and were over 9 points on POMS(profile of mood states) participated in this study. Inhalation therapy using Zizyphus jujuba var. spinosa blended oil and spa therapy were applicate for the experimental group and Jojoba oil inhalation and spa therapy was given for the control group. During the 2 weeks, the participants were treated about inhalation and spa therapy twice a week. The treatment sequence is spa therapy after inhalation therapy. Result : The improvement of stress was evaluated by POMS, HRV(Heart Rate Variability), EEG(Electroencephalography), PSQI(Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), salivary cortisol. After treatment, POMS was significantly decreased between the experimental group and the control group. In other measurement(HRV, EEG, PSQI, salivary cortisol) except POMS, there were not significant. Overall, however, they showed a tendency to alleviate stress in the experimental group. Conclusions : We suggest that inhalation therapy using Zizyphus jujuba var. spinosa blended oil and spa therapy might be effective on stress.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.3-10
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• 2008

The purpose of this review was to investigate the neurophysiological and neuroimaging characteristics of patients with depression and anxiety reported in previous studies. A literature search was conducted using Medline and psychiatric textbooks. "Electroencephalography (EEG)", "Event Related Potentials (ERP)", "functional neuroimaging", "heart rate variability (HRV)" and "depression or anxiety" were used as key words. A physiological finding indicated that there was a higher degree of relativity with regards to prefrontal dysfunction in patients with depression. Right prefrontal lobe hyperactivity and left prefrontal hypoactivity were consistently observed, and abnormalities were observed in other regions (ACC, hippocampus, amygdala, etc.). Therefore, dysfunctions in these areas are related to depressive symptoms. In patients with anxiety disorder, each emotional condition showed specific activation patterns in different brain regions, such as the prefrontal cortex, occipital lobe, temporal lobe, hippocampus, and limbic system, including the amygdala. However, in the majority of patients with anxiety disorder, the degree of activation was higher in the right hemisphere than in the left hemisphere. The current data supports that there is a difference in brain dysfunction characteristics between depression and anxiety and that the different activations of various brain regions would play a significant role in the pathophysiology of depression and anxiety disorder.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.96-101
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• 2000

Objectives: Through comparing sleep variables and autonomic activities among three shifts in shift workers, the authors intended to clarify which shift is most tolerable and to identify the characteristics of their psychological and physical problems. This study is also expected to help shift workers to adapt themselves to their work more effectively. Methods: Fifty one shift workers took part in this study. They were working in a rapidly rotating system in which they worked for 3 days in one shift with one day off between each shift. Based on a sleep diary, sleep latency (SL), sleep period time (SPT), and number of wake after sleep onset (NWASO) were estimated and compared among the three shifts. In assessing sleepiness, Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) and visual analogue scale (VAS) were used. To evaluate mood states among the three shifts, profile of mood states (POMS) was administered. Heart rate variability (HRV), and the level of adrenaline and noradrenaline were measured to assess autonomic activities. HRV included low frequency power (LF), high frequency power (HF), and LF/HF. Results: SPT was significantly lengthened during the evening shift and SL was shortened during the night shift. The workers showed a drop in alertness at wake-up during morning shift and a drop in alertness at work during night shift. During night shift the subjects complained of physical fatigue and cognitive decline. Comparison of HRV showed that parasympathetic activity was most prominent during the evening shift. Secretion of adrenaline and noradrenaline decreased during the evening shift, though statistically not significant. Conclusion: We found that the evening shift was most tolerable among the three shifts. It is recommended that morning light exposure be done during the morning shift and nocturnal light exposure during the night shift.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.145-158
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to investigate the visuo-spatial attention ability and the emotional perception ability of people across the normal range of the scores on the bipolar disorder scale. The Korean version of the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (K-MDQ) was used to measure the bipolar disorder tendency of normal people. A useful field of view (UFOV) task and an emotional perception task were used to measure visuo-spatial attention and emotional perception ability, respectively. The participants did not have any mental illness history or other medical problems. The participants were divided into three groups according to K-MDQ score (low, normal, and high), and their performances were compared. In the UFOV task, the high K-MDQ score group had lower level of performance than the other groups, suggesting that a high bipolar tendency is associated with reduction of visuo-spatial attention ability. In the emotional perception task, the group with the high K-MDQ score showed higher perception of negative emotion bias than the other groups, suggesting a high bipolar tendency to associate with reduction of emotional perception ability. These results suggest that visuo-spatial and emotional attention abilities are related with bipolar disorder tendency even in the normal population.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 2009

Objective : SCP-20, a yeast hydrolysate from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, has exhibited anti-stress, anti-anxiety, and antidepressant effects in animal studies. The objective of this study was to test the effects of SCP-20 on healthy controls and to assess its effects on stress response, depression and, anxiety. Methods : Sixty-one healthy volunteers (30 male, 31 female) were recruited and screened for significant psychiatric and medical conditions. Baseline measures of stress, anxiety, and depression were taken using questionnaires such as the Stress Response Inventory (SRI), Beck's Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI), and the physiological measure of heart rate variability (HRV). Each subject was assigned randomly to a group taking capsules containing either 70% SCP-20 (i.e. the SCP70 group), 99.5% SCP-20 (i.e. the SCP99.5 group), or a placebo. Follow up measures were taken at week 4. Results : Subjects taking SCP-20 showed significant improvement in SRI and BAI scores compared to those taking placebo. For BDI scores, there was no significant difference between groups. No significant adverse effects were reported. Conclusions : This study suggests that SCP-20 is effective in alleviating stress and anxiety symptoms in healthy individuals, and has little or no side effects. However, the role of of SCP-20 in alleviating depression needs further clarification. Studiess examining its effects in psychiatric populations are needed to establish its role in alternative medicine.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.108 no.3
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• pp.440-453
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• 2019

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of watching a two-dimensional (2D) forest video and a virtual reality (VR) forest video on stress reduction in adults. Experiments were conducted in an artificial climate room, and 40 subjects participated. After inducing stress in the subjects, subjects watched a 2D gray video, 2D forest video, or VR forest video for 5 mins. The autonomic nervous system activity was evaluated continuously in terms of measured heart rate variability during the experiment. After each experiment, the subject's psychological state was evaluated using a questionnaire. The 2D forest video decreased the viewer's stress index, increased HF, and reduced heart rate compared with the 2D gray video. The VR forest video had a greater stress index reduction effect, LF/HF increase effect, and heart rate reduction effect than the 2D gray video. Psychological measurements showed that subjects felt more comfortable, natural, and calm when watching the 2D gray video, 2D forest video or VR forest video. We also found that the 2D forest video and VR forest video increased positive emotions and reduced negative emotions compared to the 2D gray video. Based on these results, it can be concluded that watching the 2D forest and VR forest videos reduces the stress index and heart rate compared with watching the 2D gray video. Thus, it is considered that the 2D forest video increases the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, and the VR forest video increases the activity of the sympathetic nervous system. The increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system upon watching the VR forest video is judged to be positive sympathetic nerve activity, such as novelty and curiosity, and not negative sympathetic activity, such as stress and tension. The results of this study are expected to be the basis for examining the visual effects of forest healing, with hope that the utilization of VR, the technology of the fourth industrial revolution in the forestry field, will broaden.