Walking in the Woods benefits Patients with High Blood Pressure

Take a peaceful walk in the forest when you need time out.
Researchers in Japan have shown how a brief walk in the woods can elicit both physiological and psychological relaxation responses in middle-aged individuals with high blood pressure. In a pilot study, twenty such participants were asked to walk set routes in forest and urban environments, the latter acting as a control. Route length, walking pace and energy expenditure were designed to be the same whichever environment was walked.

Heart rate was found to be significantly lower in the forest compared to the urban environment. Heart rate variability suggested a significantly higher relaxation response in the forest. A questionnaire used to assess participants’ qualitative responses showed that compared with the urban route, the forest route increased “comfortable”, “relaxed”, “natural” and “vigorous” sensations, and decreased the urge to report “tension-anxiety”, “depression”, “anxiety-hostility”, “fatigue” and “confusion”.

(Effect of forest walking on autonomic nervous system activity in middle-aged hypertensive individuals: a pilot study. Int Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health, March 2015.)

Author: Robin Costello

I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training. I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.