Effects of the Forest Healing Program on Depression, Cognition, and the Autonomic Nervous System in the Elderly with Cognitive Decline

• 발행기관: 인간식물환경학회
• 저자명: Young-suwn Lim Jaeuk Kim Taegyu Khil Jiyune Yi Dong-jun Kim
• 간행물 정보: 『인간식물환경학회지(JPPE)』제24권 제1호, 107~117쪽, 전체 11쪽
• 주제분류: 자연과학 > 자연과학일반
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2021.02.28

영문 초록

Background and objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of a forest healing program in terms of depression, neuropsychological and physiological benefits for the elderly. Methods: For this purpose, we developed a forest therapy program for the elderly who are vulnerable to dementia and conducted a total of 11 sessions of forest therapy activities in a forest once a week. We measured the changes in depression, resting-state Electroencephalography(EEG) and heart rate variability (HRV) before and after the program. There were 60 subjects aged over 65 yesrs old. 30 subjects participated in the forest therapy program, and the other were in the control group. The Geriatric Depression Scale was used to measure the level of depression, neuroNicle FX2 (Laxtha, Korea) was used to measure the resting-state EEG, and photoplethymogram (ubpulse T1, Laxtha, Korea) was used to measure the HRV. Results: The results showed that the depression index of the experimental group improved with statistical significance after the program (experiment group = 3.267 decrease of the mean). In the EEG measurement, the alpha-peak frequency at rest (experimental group = 0.227 Hz increase of the mean) was improved (mean increase = 0.23 in the experimental group, p < .05). The high frequency of HRV, which represents the parasympathetic nerve activity of the body s autonomous response, was also significantly improved (mean increase = 0.396 in the experimental group, p < .05). Conclusion: The results suggest that the forest therapy program can reduce the cognitive, psychological and physical risk factors of dementia for the elderly at risk of cognitive decline. Therefore, forest therapy activities may be suitable for the prevention of dementia in the elderly.

목차

Introduction

Research Methods

Results and Discussion

Conclusion

References

키워드

alpha-peak frequency cognitive improvement neuropsychological assessment urban forest This