Forest bathing · shinrin-yoku · Japan
Cortisol stayed on the sidewalk.
A 16-minute walk under trees dropped the spit cortisol 15.8 percent. The same minutes on a sidewalk kept it.
They sat first.
Then they walked the same load on two kinds of ground.
They sat fourteen minutes before anyone walked
Looking dropped the pulse before the walk even started.
Park's group sat each man in a chair facing the trees for 14 minutes, spread 2, and they took the spit and the cuff before that sit and after it.
The pulse fell 6.0 percent after the forest sit.
After the forest walk it fell 3.9.
Looking beat walking on the pulse, which is the number a hike caption never keeps, because the hike caption sells miles and Park sold a chair.
Systolic pressure fell 1.7 percent after the sit and 1.9 after the walk. Diastolic fell 1.6 then 2.1.
Small cuff moves.
The spit moved more.
Cortisol sat 13.4 percent lower after the forest view and 15.8 percent lower after the forest walk, against the city site that used the same clocks.
On 3 August 2026 Julie Corliss at Harvard Health called forest bathing time in the woods immersed in the surrounding sights, sounds, and smells, and that sensory-definition-then-one-claim is the move this page steals before it walks into the 14-minute chair Park actually used.
A retreat weekend is a different clock.
Day two sent the sidewalk group into the woods
Each man got both grounds. The order flipped.
They ran the field in 24 forests across Japan from 2005 to 2006, twelve men at a site, 280 in total, mean age 21.7 with a spread of 1.5, all male university students who reported no physical or psychiatric history, after the Institutional Ethical Committee of the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute signed the room and each man signed the day before.
Young room.
Park printed the work in Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, volume 15, issue 1, pages 18 to 26, DOI 10.1007/s12199-009-0086-9, from the Center for Environment, Health and Field Sciences at Chiba University, Kashiwa-no-ha 6-2-1, with the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute at 1 Matsunosato, Tsukuba.
The ministry coined Shinrin-yoku in 1982. This file measured it 23 years later.
Six men went to the forest on day one. Six went to the city. Day two swapped them, so the man who sat on the sidewalk yesterday sat under the trees today, and the man who sat under the trees yesterday got the sidewalk, which is how a crossover keeps the same body on both grounds.
They slept in identical separate rooms. They ate the same meals. Alcohol and tobacco stayed out. Caffeine sat under a clock.
Morning spit and cuff happened at the lodging before breakfast, then again before and after the walk, then before and after the sit, one man at a time, while an AC-301A recorder watched the R-R interval through both bouts.
Travel time to the forest site and the city site sat near even, so the van ride is a weak excuse for the tube.
The activity monitor called both walks the same
The sidewalk walk worked as hard as the forest walk.
They walked 16 minutes, spread 5.
They sat 14 minutes, spread 2.
An AC-301A activity monitor estimated the walk load at both sites, and the authors wrote that the load did not split, so a quieter forest tube cannot hide behind an easier stroll.
Same minutes. Same work.
The ground still split the spit.
Saliva sat on two pieces of absorbent cotton for 2 minutes in a Sarstedt 51.1534 tube, then SRL Inc. printed the cortisol. The cuff was an Omron HEM1000 on the right upper arm. Heart-rate variability used Mem-Calc on the AC-301A trace, high-frequency power from 0.15 to 0.4 Hz, low-frequency from 0.04 to 0.15 Hz.
HF, the quieter branch, rose 56.1 percent after the forest sit and 102.0 percent after the forest walk.
LF/HF, the stress ratio, fell 18.0 percent after the sit and 19.4 after the walk.
The sidewalk kept the louder ratio.
The spit dropped 15.8 after the forest walk
The forest tube fell. The sidewalk tube stayed.
Those percents are forest against city, printed from the figures, with p under 0.01 on the cortisol bars and on the pulse bars.
The authors gave percents, not a table of raw nanomoles, so this page keeps the percents the reprint actually wrote.
Kept it.
A 16-minute forest walk that drops the tube 15.8 percent against a matched city walk is the mechanism a forest-bathing search is after, and the sidewalk is the half of the day that shows you the drop is the trees, because the same body did the same minutes on pavement and the tube stayed loud.
The mood sheet followed the spit
The POMS moved with the ground.
One hundred sixteen men filled the Japanese POMS after the sit. Seventy-eight filled it after the walk. Those are the n the figures named, smaller than 280, and that hole stays on the page.
After the forest sit, tension moved minus 1.1 against plus 3.5 on the city sit. Fatigue moved minus 3.1 against plus 1.8. Vigor moved plus 1.9 against minus 1.9.
After the forest walk, tension moved minus 1.1 against plus 3.2. Fatigue moved minus 2.1 against plus 1.3. Vigor moved plus 4.2 against minus 0.2.
Depression, anger, and confusion moved the same direction, smaller steps, still toward the quieter sheet under the trees.
The city sit made people tenser. The forest sit made them less tired.
I keep the other outdoor files in the Library.
This file is 24 woods, two days, and a sidewalk that kept the cortisol.
Sit fourteen minutes if you want that tube.
If you came here for forest bathing, Park measured a 14-minute chair and a 16-minute walk against the same clocks on a sidewalk, then reprinted the spit.
The sidewalk kept the cortisol.
Write the minutes if you want that sheet, because a weekend retreat that never prints a sit clock is a different outing than the 14-minute chair they actually used.
This page is about the sidewalk that kept the tube, so run Protocol 01 if you want a chair number before you drive to the trees.
Open holes in the 24-forest file
Was the city walk easier?
The activity monitor said no. The authors wrote that the walk load did not split between forest and city.
Did they only walk?
They sat 14 minutes first. Looking dropped the pulse 6.0 percent. Walking dropped it 3.9. The spit dropped more after the walk, 15.8 against 13.4.
Who sat in the 24 woods?
280 male university students, mean age 21.7, spread 1.5. No women. No older bodies. A 50-year-old on a Tennessee ridge is a different room.
How long does the drop last?
This file stops at the sit and the walk. No next-day spit printed. Li's later NK trips are a longer outing and a different sheet.
Do I need a Japanese cedar stand?
They used 24 forests across Japan, mixed sites, 2005 to 2006. The control was a city site with the same clocks. A city park with real trees is closer to this file than a treadmill video of trees.
Japan 2005-2006 sheet
Park B.J., Tsunetsugu Y., Kasetani T., Kagawa T., Miyazaki Y. "The physiological effects of Shinrin-yoku (taking in the forest atmosphere or forest bathing): evidence from field experiments in 24 forests across Japan." Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine 2010, 15(1), 18 to 26. DOI 10.1007/s12199-009-0086-9. PMID 19568835. PMC 2793346. Center for Environment, Health and Field Sciences, Chiba University, Kashiwa-no-ha 6-2-1, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-0882. Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 1 Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8687. Chiba Prefectural Agriculture and Forestry Research Center Forestry Research Institute, 1887-1 Haniya, Sammu, Chiba 289-1223. Received 18 July 2008. Accepted 6 April 2009. Issue January 2010. Ethics: Institutional Ethical Committee of the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute. Informed consent the day before. Field experiments in 24 areas, 2005 to 2006. In each experiment 12 normal male university students, 280 total, ages 21.7 SD 1.5, no reported physical or psychiatric disorders. Crossover: day 1 six forest / six city, day 2 swap. Identical separate rooms, identical meals, alcohol and tobacco prohibited, caffeine controlled. Walk 16 SD 5 min. View 14 SD 2 min. Morning measures at lodging before breakfast, then before and after walking, then before and after viewing, one person at a time. R-R during both bouts. AC-301A activity monitor, no load split between sites. Saliva: two absorbent cotton pieces, 2 min, Sarstedt 51.1534, SRL Inc. HRV: AC-301A, Mem-Calc, HF 0.15-0.4 Hz, LF 0.04-0.15 Hz. Cuff: Omron HEM1000, right upper arm. Forest vs city percents from figures: salivary cortisol viewing -13.4, walking -15.8, p under 0.01. Pulse viewing -6.0, walking -3.9, p under 0.01. Systolic viewing -1.7, walking -1.9. Diastolic viewing -1.6, walking -2.1. HF viewing +56.1, walking +102.0. LF/HF viewing -18.0, walking -19.4. POMS viewing n=116, walking n=78, Wilcoxon. Viewing forest vs city: tension -1.1 vs +3.5, depression -0.3 vs +0.1, anger -0.2 vs +1.0, fatigue -3.1 vs +1.8, confusion -1.0 vs +1.8, vigor +1.9 vs -1.9. Walking: tension -1.1 vs +3.2, depression -0.2 vs +0.8, anger -0.2 vs +0.8, fatigue -2.1 vs +1.3, confusion -1.1 vs +1.1, vigor +4.2 vs -0.2. Limitations named in the file: young Japanese men, short span, field, percents vs city rather than a raw nanomole table. Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research S: 16107007, MEXT. Term Shinrin-yoku coined 1982 by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. doi.org/10.1007/s12199-009-0086-9 · pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19568835 · ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2793346
Corliss J. "The health benefits of forest bathing." Harvard Health, 3 August 2026. Sensory definition this page steals: time in the woods immersed in the surrounding sights, sounds, and smells. health.harvard.edu/heart-health/the-health-benefits-of-forest-bathing