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Article

Well-Being and Sustainable Utilization of Forest Environment with Diverse Vegetation Distributions

by
Yu Gao
,
Yingna Zhang
,
Weikang Zhang
,
Huan Meng
,
Zhi Zhang
and
Tong Zhang
*
Forestry College, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang 110065, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2024, 16(19), 8469; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16198469 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 14 July 2024 / Revised: 14 September 2024 / Accepted: 25 September 2024 / Published: 29 September 2024
(This article belongs to the Section Health, Well-Being and Sustainability)
Browse Figures
Review Reports Versions Notes

Abstract

:
Forest landscape space is the basic unit of forest landscape resources. Healthy forest landscape resources can not only improve the sustainable cycle of forest ecological service function, but also have a positive impact on human health and well-being. Evidence supports the view that the forest environment is beneficial to people’s health, and further discussion of the dose response between environmental attributes and physical and mental recovery has been widely carried out by scholars. As an important component of environmental attributes, it is necessary to clarify the relationship between vegetation distribution and users’ health in order to better plan, design, and utilize forest environmental resources. This study mainly used the virtual immersive forest environment video in VR, and used the difference test in SPSS 23.0 to clarify whether the distribution of vegetation in the forest environment will affect the physiological and psychological recovery effect of users. The main results are as follows: (1) Experiencing the forest environment can promote users’ physiological and psychological health, and its recovery effect is significantly better than the indoor environment (p < 0.05). (2) The distribution of vegetation in the forest environment will affect users’ physiological and psychological recovery effect. Among them, in the cluster and randomly distributed forest environments, the relaxation and concentration of users can be improved mainly by alleviating their negative emotions. In the evenly distributed forest environment, users mainly achieve the purpose of relaxation by improving their vitality and positive emotions. These results show that the distribution of vegetation is one of the factors for the restoration of forest environment. In the future design and management of the forest environment, the health and well-being of users can be effectively enhanced by getting involved with the vegetation distribution in the site, aiming to provide a scientific basis for the promotion of the rehabilitation function of forest landscape space and its sustainable utilization, thus promoting the sustainable development of forest resources and improving people’s quality of life.

1. Introduction

Over time, people’s attitudes towards life have gradually changed from “material quality” to “spiritual quality” [1]. People’s attitudes towards the forest environment are no exception, from the previous “greenspace” to “high-quality greenspace”. With the change in people’s attitudes, more and more people are aware of the importance of the forest environment. Therefore, the function of the “sustainable” forest environment is also changing. Compared with the previous ecological service functions such as water conservation, soil conservation, carbon fixation, and oxygen release, and improving the ecological environment, the ecological ability, the recreational function, and the potential aesthetic quality of the forest environment have gradually become the focus and hot issues for society as a whole [1,2,3,4].
According to statistics from the China People’s Network in 2021, the number of forest tourists in China reached 7.5 billion during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. In the second half of 2020, forest tourism reversed strongly due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, and the number of tourists nationwide reached 84.2% in 2019. It effectively promoted the development of forest tourism, and correspondingly stimulated tourists’ pursuit of high-quality forest environments [5].
That means the forest environment has gradually become the mainstream place for people’s leisure and entertainment; at the same time, providing a high-quality, healthy, and sustainable forest environment for the public has gradually become an important topic for scholars.
A favorable forest environment experience can not only improve tourists’ feelings about nature, but also promote tourists’ yearning for forests, which is also an important direction for achieving the goal of the sustainable development of forest landscape resources [6,7,8,9,10,11]. Numerous studies have also shown that people can enhance their health and happiness while being in contact with nature [12,13,14,15], mainly from three aspects:

1.1. Exposure to the Forest Environment Can Effectively Enhance the Public’s Immunity

Research by Giacinto and others has shown that the phytoncide (α-pinene and D-limonene, etc.) secreted by plants can enhance people’s immune system and endocrine system, thus improving their health [16,17,18,19]. That is, contact with the natural environment can effectively improve or enhance people’s immune systems. In turn, improvements in the immune system can alleviate the onset of chronic diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular, and respiratory diseases. With the continuous exploration by scholars, scholars have also put forward the concepts and theories of “horticultural therapy”, “therapeutic landscape”, and “natural therapy theory” [20,21,22]. Meanwhile, some hospitals combine these theories with practice, and use plants to create some suitable natural environments in some wards and nursing homes to improve or alleviate the condition of patients and the elderly [23].

1.2. Exposure to the Forest Environment Can Effectively Promote Public’s Physical Health

Fischer and others used an electroencephalograph, a sphygmomanometer, an oximeter, saliva monitoring, and other instruments to study the physiological recovery effect between people and the environment [23,24,25]. It has also been pointed out that people can reduce stress hormone levels, blood pressure, pulse rate, and sympathetic nervous system activity, and increase the parasympathetic nervous system activity and other physiological indicators, in the process of interacting with nature, and this has a positive impact [25,26,27,28,29,30].
When people’s stress or fatigue increases, the EEG α wave disappears and becomes a β wave, indicating that the α wave is significant in the relaxed and awake states [31]. Ulrich also showed that the EEG α wave exposed to the natural environment is obviously higher than that exposed to the urban environment [32]. Chang et al. found that the EEG waves of the simulated environment with a restoration function increased significantly [32,33].

1.3. Exposure to the Forest Environment Can Effectively Improve the Public’s Mental Health

Scholars of the environment, landscape, and architecture have mainly used questionnaires to investigate and study the relationship between tourists, college students or sample plots, and the natural environment [2,34]. It is pointed out that to enjoy and exercise in the natural environment is not only beneficial to the public’s health, but is also significantly correlated with a natural experience and positive mental health results (emotional improvement and stress reduction) [30,34,35,36,37]. Meanwhile, scholars have pointed out that people’s psychological recovery effect is different in different environments, and the open natural environment is more conducive to people’s emotional relaxation and reducing negative emotions (such as stress, anxiety, and aggression) than the experience in a closed space [2,23].
All of the above studies show that even a few short minutes of contact with the forest environment will play a positive role in people’s bodies and minds. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the influence of environmental attributes on users’ physical and mental recovery to create a high-quality healthy forest environment for users.
Research by Shi pointed out that the forest environment composed of diverse tree species has different effects on people’s physical and mental recovery [38]. Zeng also pointed out that, in planning and designing a forest environment, more trees can be used to enrich the colors of forests in different seasons to enhance people’s positive emotions [39].
Gao and others pointed out that types of urban green space will affect people’s recovery effect, especially in the recovery from negative emotions [40]. Some open green spaces have the best effect of alleviating people’s negative emotions, while closed green spaces (over 70% of trees/shrubs dominate the canopy coverage) have the worst effect for restoring them [39,41].
Above all, scholars have realized the importance of the forest environment and studied the “dose effect” between forest environmental attributes and restoration effects [38,42]. Research by Zhao showed that when the area of the site is 250–500 square meters, our physical and mental recovery effect is the best, and the recovery effect is the best when the coverage rate is 0.25–0.35 [41]. Research by An showed that a 50% density broad-leaved forest landscape will make people have a stable mood and the most active vitality. However, the maximum pulse rate appeared in 100% of the stand density of coniferous forests and broad-leaved forests [42]. Lin pointed out that walking in urban green space with a high per capita area and sitting in urban green space with low per capita area have obvious effects in improving mood [43].
Meanwhile, Zhao pointed out that vegetation is an important environmental attribute in the forest landscape environment [41]. At the same time, Duan pointed out that vegetation distribution is also an important attribute of the forest environment [44]. A well-restored forest environment can not only promote the development of forest tourism industry, but also better promote the sustainable utilization of forest landscape resources, thus achieving sustainable economic and social development [4,45,46]. Therefore, it is necessary to further explore the relationship between the distribution of vegetation in the forest environment and the recovery effect of people’s bodies and minds.
In this study, from the perspective of vegetation distribution in the forest environment, we used Mindband, Virtual Reality (VR), Brief Profile of Mood States (BPOMS), and Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) to explore the physiological and psychological recovery effect of people in the forest environment. The specific research questions are as follows:
(1)
Experience the forest environment with VR equipment. Is it the restoration effect caused by the environment itself?
(2)
How does the forest environment with different vegetation distributions affect people’s physiological and psychological recovery?

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Sample Selection and Method

First, with the increasing application of virtual reality evaluation methods in environment-related research, its universality and reliability have been generally accepted by scholars at home and abroad [34,40,47,48,49], that is, the user’s experience of the virtual reality landscape environment can effectively replace the experience of the on-site forest immersion environment, and there is no significant difference from the experience result of the actual landscape.
Second, Browning pointed out that VR experience is more real and closer to the real experience than two-dimensional pictures and videos [47].
Therefore, the 360 video of the forest environment was selected as the experimental material in this study.
(1) Based on the representativeness and universality of the forest environment, the Qipans Mountain Scenic Area, the Houshi National Forest Park, and the Hemu National Forest Park in the northern part of China were identified as the research sites after on-site investigation and screening (Figure 1A).
(2) In accordance with the concept of the angular scale (W) proposed by Hui and Gadow [50], this study measured the relative co-ordinates, DBH, tree height, branch height, crown width, tree species, and other indicators of 30 plots (the size of each plot: 20 m * 20 m), and calculated the angular scale of each plot to measure the plant distribution of each plot (Figure 1B).
(3) To avoid the influence of seasons and weather conditions on users’ subjective feelings [51], the experimental materials in this study were all carried out in the center of the sample plot (Figure 1B) and at a height of 100 cm from 30 April to 3 May 2023 at 10:00 a.m. on sunny days [52,53]. A total of 30 videos of the forest environment were collected.
(4) Finally, on the basis of the vegetation distribution in 30 forest environments, we divided the samples into three grades (uniform distribution: W < 0.475; random distribution: 0.475 ≤ W ≤ 0.517; and cluster distribution: W > 0.517). Three representative forest environments selected by 12 experts and 18 non-experts were used as the final experimental materials (Figure 1C).

2.2. Index Selection

2.2.1. Physiological Stress Index

To analyze whether there are significant differences in users’ physiological recovery in the forest environment under different vegetation distribution conditions, we used the instrument of Mindband (Brand: SICHIRAY, Beijing, China) and Sphygmomanometer (Brand: Omron, Kyoto, Japan) to measure five physiological indices, namely β, α, SBP, DBP, and HR [2,39,54] (Table 1).
The user’s degree of physiological recovery degree is expressed by Δ, and the value of Δ = the value of the post-test − the value of the pre-test.

2.2.2. Psychological Stress Index

Scholars have used psychological scales to measure the psychological recovery of users in the environment. In this study, the scales of BPOMS and PANAS are mainly used to evaluate the psychological response of users, and this scale has been widely used by scholars [2,55].
BPOMS: compiled by American psychologist McNair in 1971 to evaluate and understand the user’s state of mind. It mainly includes six primary indices, including T (contains five items), A (contains five items), D (contains five items), F (contains five items), C (contains five items), and V (contains five items), and used TMD to measure the overall emotional disorder [56,57] (Table 2).
PANAS: compiled by Watson et al. in 1988, and is widely used. It mainly includes two primary indices [55]—PA (contains 10 items) and NA (contains 10 items)—to measure user’s positive and negative emotions (Table 2).
The user’s degree of psychological recovery degree is expressed by Δ, and the value of Δ = the value of the posttest − the value of the pretest.

2.3. Experimental Design

Research by Blasco showed that students have a certain ability for the aesthetic judgment of the natural environment, and it is feasible and representative to choose students to experience experiments in the virtual environment [49,58,59]. Therefore, we recruited 195 students from Shenyang Agricultural University and randomly assigned them to four environments (three forest environments and one indoor environment). There was no noise in the laboratory environment to ensure that the subjects were not affected by the outside world.
The experimental process mainly included three parts, as shown in Figure 2:
  • Part 1: Stage of experimental preparation
We read the instruction to the subject, let them sign the experimental consent form (ethical statement of Shenyang Agricultural University), and they put on and debugged the Mindband.
  • Part 2: Stage of experimental testing
First, to avoid any difference in the measured physiological indices due to strenuous exercise before the subjects came to the laboratory, we required the subjects to rest for 5 min. After the rest, the physiological indices of the subjects were measured, and the subjects were asked to fill in the scale of BPOMOS and PANAS, and the measured values were named as the baseline values.
Second, the subjects were tested by the trier social stress test (TSST), which includes noise and verbal calculation for 1 min, in order to induce the subjects’ acute stress. After the test, the physiological indices of the subjects were measured, and the subjects were asked to fill in the scale of BPOMOS and PANAS, and the measured values were named as the pre-test values.
Finally, the subjects put on the HTC VIVE PRO 2.0 helmet for 3 min of VR experience. After the virtual environment experience, the subjects filled in the scales of BPOMOS and PANAS, and the measured values were named as post-test ones.
  • Part 3: Stage of experimental data collection
The experimental data of the subjects were collected, and gifts were given at random.

3. Results

In this survey, data from a total of 195 undergraduate and graduate students aged 18–24 years were collected, and finally 188 valid data were obtained.
First, we attempted to verify whether the verbal calculation + noise made users feel stressed. Therefore, we used the Wilcoxon test in SPSS 23.0 to analyze the baseline value and the pre-test value of physiological and psychological indicators (N = 188), as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3 shows that, except for the indicator of F, the other indicators are significantly different between the baseline and pre-test (p < 0.05).
Second, we used the Kruskal–Wallis test to verify whether the users’ physiological and psychological indices of users reached the same level in the pre-test (Table 3). The table shows that all p values were greater than 0.05. That is, there was no statistical difference between the physiological and psychological indices of the pre-test in each space.
In summary, we obtained the following results:
(1)
The stress pressurization method (verbal calculation and noise) used in our experiment was effective;
(2)
After experiencing stress, users’ physiological and psychological indices reached the same level, and there were no significant differences in different environments.

3.1. Restoration Effect and Difference of Users in Indoor Environment and Forest Environment

To verify whether users’ physiological and psychological indices were due to the recovery of users themselves due to the passage of time, we analyzed the physiological and psychological indices between the pre-test and post-test with the help of the Wilcoxon test, and analyzed the value of Δ between the indoor environment (N = 41) and the forest environment (N = 147) with the Kruskal–Wallis Test, and obtained the results shown in Figure 4.

3.1.1. Physiological Recovery

➀
EEG
First, users’ β wave showed a significant downward trend in the indoor environment and a significant upward trend in the forest environment (Figure 4A,B), and there was a significant difference between the indoor environment and the forest environment (Figure 4C). In other words, users can effectively improve their concentration when they appreciate the forest environment.
Second, users’ α wave showed a downward trend when they viewed the indoor environment (Figure 4A), but showed a significant upward trend in the forest environment (Figure 4B), meanwhile, the restoration effect of the forest environment was significantly better than that of the indoor environment (Figure 4C). That is, with the passage of time, viewing the forest environment will make user feel significantly relaxed (p < 0.05), but in the indoor environment, it will not make users’ relaxation degree increase significantly (αpretest = 49.94, αposttest = 49.66).
➁
Blood Pressure and Heart Rate
Both SBP and DBP showed a downward trend in both the indoor environment and the forest environment (Figure 4A,B), and the degree of decline in the forest environment was significantly better than that in the indoor environment (p < 0.05, Figure 4C).
Users’ HR showed an upward trend in the indoor environment (Figure 4A), but a significant downward trend in the forest environment (Figure 4B), and there was a significant difference between the indoor environment and the forest environment (p < 0.05, Figure 4C).
That means the experience of the forest environment has a positive impact on the users’ physical health, and its recovery effect is significantly better than that of the indoor environment.

3.1.2. Psychological Recovery

➀
BPOMOS
After users experienced the indoor environment and the forest environment, their psychological indices such as T, A, D, F, C, and TMD all showed a downward trend (Figure 4A,B), and the decline degree of the forest environment was significantly higher than that of the indoor environment (p < 0.05, Figure 4A,C).
That is, in the indoor environment and the forest environment, users’ tension, anger, depression, fatigue, confusion, and total mood disturbance were all alleviated, and users’ recovery effect in the forest environment was significantly better than that in the indoor environment.
Next, the value of users’ vigor showed a significant upward trend in both the indoor and the forest environments, and the degree of increase in the forest environment was also significantly higher than that in the indoor environment (p < 0.05, Figure 4). This also means that both the indoor environment and the forest environment can effectively enhance users’ vitality, and the recovery effect of the forest environment is better than that of the indoor environment.
➁
PANAS
After experiencing the indoor environment and the forest environment, users’ positive emotions showed a significant upward trend, while negative emotions showed a significant downward trend. In addition, the recovery degree in the forest environment (ΔPA = 7.31, ΔNA = −9.49) was significantly better than that in the indoor environment (ΔPA = 1.80, ΔNA = −5.44).
Above all, we can see that the users’ physiology and psychology have a certain recovery effect in both the forest environment and the indoor environment, and the recovery effect in the forest environment is significantly better than that in the indoor environment. In other words, when people experience the forest environment, the “environmental effect” is stronger than the “time effect”.

3.2. Restoration Effect and Difference of Users in Forest Environment with Different Vegetation Layout

Figure 4 shows that users’ physiological and psychological indices recovered after enjoying the forest environment. In which case, will the users’ restoration effect change due to the change in vegetation distribution in the forest environment?
To explore this problem, first, we used the Wilcoxon test to analyze users’ restoration effects in three types of forest environment: cluster distribution (N = 50), uniform distribution (N = 49), and random distribution (N = 48). Second, we used the Kruskal–Wallis test to analyze the value of Δ in three kinds of forest environment (N = 147), and obtained the results shown in Figure 5. Figure 5 shows that, overall, users’ physiological and psychological recovery under different vegetation distribution showed the same trend, but the recovery degree was different.

3.2.1. Physiological Recovery in Forest Environment

➀
EEG
First, the β wave shows a significant upward trend in the cluster-, uniformly, and randomly distributed forest environments (p < 0.05, Figure 5A–C), and the cluster distribution is significantly different from the uniformly distributed and randomly distributed scene (p < 0.05, Figure 5D). Compared with the random distribution (Δβ = 6.94), the cluster forest environment will distract people’s attention (Δβ = 3.24).
Second, the α wave also showed a significant upward trend in various forest environments, and there was no significant difference among different vegetation distribution conditions (p > 0.05, Figure 5D). Users are most relaxed in uniformly distributed forest environments (Δα = 11.39), and the least in the cluster-distributed forest environment (Δα = 9.33).
In other words, the distribution of vegetation in the forest environment will significantly affect users’ concentration and relaxation. Under the same stand type (mixed forest environment), the distribution of a small gathering of vegetation will distract people’s attention and keep them in the exploration stage, thus making people feel nervous. The more uniform vegetation structure is easily recognized and understood by people, which makes people explore the environment itself less, and their emotional focus improves more.
➁
Blood Pressure and Heart Rate
First, users’ SBP, DBP, and HR showed a significant downward trend in the forest environment with different vegetation distribution (p < 0.05, Figure 5A–C).
Second, the recovery degree of users was different due to the difference in vegetation distribution in space (Figure 5D). Among them, the recovery effect of SBP is the best in the randomly distributed forest environment (ΔSBP = −6.90), DBP is the best in the uniformly distributed forest environment (ΔDBP = −4.10), and HR is the best in the cluster forest environment (ΔDBP = −4.10).
That means the distribution of vegetation will not significantly affect the recovery of users’ blood pressure and heart rate, but it can effectively promote users’ physiological health and make them feel more relaxed.

3.2.2. Psychological Recovery in Forest Environment

➀
BPOMOS
First, in the forest environment with different vegetation distribution, users’ psychological indices such as T, A, D, F, C, and TMD all showed a downward trend (p < 0.05, Figure 5A–C).
Second, with a change in vegetation distribution, users’ recovery effect from psychological indicators was also different (Figure 5D).
The psychological indices of D, F, and TMD were significantly different between the cluster forest environment and the uniformly distributed forest environment (p < 0.05, Figure 5D), and the recovery from users’ bad mood state was the best in the cluster forest environment, and the recovery effect was the weakest in the uniformly distributed forest environment (p < 0.05, Figure 5A–C).
In addition, there were significant differences in the V index between the uniformly and cluster-distributed forest environments, but the restoration effect in the uniformly distributed (5.20) environment was significantly better than that in the cluster (3.14) environment.
That is, although the small gathering vegetation structure will prolong people’s exploration time, in the process of exploration, people’s bad state of mind in terms of depression, fatigue, and total mood disturbance value was gradually improved, and the vegetation structure that is easier to explore makes people’s vitality value achieve the best effect.
➁
PANAS
Users’ positive emotions showed a significant upward trend and negative emotions showed a significant downward trend in forest environments with different vegetation distribution (p < 0.05, Figure 5A–C).
The recovery degree of users’ positive and negative emotions will be different due to the distribution of vegetation in the environment (Figure 5D). In the uniformly distributed environment, the recovery degree of users’ positive emotions was the best (ΔPA = 8.62), while the recovery effect of negative emotions was the weakest (ΔNA = −10.90). The recovery degree of users’ negative emotions was the best in the randomly distribution environment (ΔNA = −8.78), and the recovery degree of users’ positive emotions was the weakest in the cluster distribution environment (ΔPA = 5.14).
That is, simple vegetation structure is more conducive to improving users’ positive emotions, while a small gathering vegetation structure is not conducive to improving positive emotions. In addition, the randomly distributed vegetation structure between the two will make people’s exploration not too simple, but also too complicated, which is more conducive to people’s negative emotions.

3.2.3. Summary

Our study found that the distribution of vegetation will affect users’ physical and mental recovery. With the distribution of vegetation in the forest environment, the recovery degree of their physiological and psychological indicators will also change in the process of users’ cognition and understanding of the scene [60] (Table 4).

4. Discussion

The attributes of the natural environment will affect users’ physical and mental recovery effect [42,61]. Thus, whether the distribution of vegetation as an important factor of environmental attributes will affect users’ physical and mental recovery requires, and is worthy of, an in-depth discussion.
Previous research results are consistent with some of our research results:

4.1. Which Factor Has a Significant Impact on the Physical and Mental Recovery Effect of Human Beings or the Time Effect?

To avoid the time effect of people’s physical and mental recovery after experiencing the forest environment being stronger than the environmental effect, this study designed the indoor environment as the control group. The results show that users’ physical and mental recovery effect in experiencing the forest environment is significantly better than that in indoor environment. That is, when experiencing the environment with the help of VR equipment, the environmental effect has a stronger influence on users’ physical and mental recovery than the time effect (Figure 3).
This research result is consistent with the core psychological theory of environmental restoration effect [57,62,63]. Among them, Stress Reduction Theory pointed out that contact with the natural environment can effectively improve people’s emotional state (stimulate positive emotions and alleviate negative emotions) compared with the urban environment. Meanwhile, by reducing the physiological activation level (heart rate, etc.), people actively deal with the non-threatening environment with rich vegetation and other natural features related to survival. It is mentioned in the theory of the Biophilia Hypothesis that human beings have an innate attachment to the abiotic natural environment, which makes people have a positive connection with the natural environment.
Research by Browning also confirmed our conclusion. Compared with the indoor building environment, people can improve their anxiety and mood more when they experience the outdoor natural environment [47].

4.2. Does the Distribution of Vegetation in the Forest Environment Have a Significant Impact on the Effect of Human Restoration?

The attributes of landscape environment (type, density, distribution of vegetation, pattern, etc.) will affect people’s physical and mental recovery in the environment [38,42,61,64]. In our research, we also found that when users experienced the forest environment with different vegetation distribution, their physiological and psychological indicators recovered to varying degrees.
Currently, there are different views on mental health according to environmental characteristics. Closed and dense green environments will give people a sense of insecurity, which will lead to tension [65]. An pointed out that people’s mood is more stable and fatigue is less in the lower density forest environment [42,65]. This is consistent with our research results. The clustered forest environment belongs to the small gathering state of vegetation in space, and the local density is relatively large. The external world is covered, which reduces the sense of security and instinctively makes people feel nervous. This is supported by the Stress Reduction Theory that “people will feel stressed when they encounter situations that threaten them” [57,66].
Similarly, the Attention Restoration Theory argues that the natural landscape provides “soft charm”, which can capture attention effortlessly [57,67]. However, with the passage of time, people’s ability to maintain concentration will weaken, which is consistent with our research results. The results of this study showed that the forest environment can effectively improve people’s attention, but with the difficulty of understanding space, people’s recovery degree is also different. Shi also pointed out that low landscape readability will arouse people’s negative emotional response [68]. In the forest environment, which was divided into small dense vegetation, people needed to explore, and identify and understand the “information” in the environment continuously. Gestalt theory holds that the configuration form of plants can be abstracted and simplified to achieve unity and legibility. Based on this theory, it is easier to consume people’s attention when presenting a small gathering block of information space compared to a uniformly distributed landscape information space, and then “overwork phenomenon” will occur and lead to the decline of the stress recovery effect [68].
Forest environment plays a positive role in people’s physiological health such as blood pressure and heart rate, but the role is not significant [60]. However, the results of this study showed that people’s blood pressure and heart rate have changed significantly after experiencing the natural environment. We speculate that the main reason for this difference is that the subject we recruited are mainly freshmen, seniors and graduate students with high psychological pressure (study pressure, employment pressure, scientific research pressure, etc.). At the same time, our research showed that there is no significant difference in the improvement of people’s blood pressure and heart rate under different vegetation distribution conditions (the physiological recovery effect of people in different natural environments is very small) [38,63,69].
The forest environment can enhance the positive emotional state and reduce the negative emotional state. However, different spaces created by vegetation give people different feelings, which in turn affects people’s emotional state [42]. This is consistent with our research results. Our research showed that the distribution of vegetation in the forest environment is also an important incentive for people’s emotional recovery. Among them, the vegetation environment with simple content and open space gives people a sense of security and space. Therefore, compared with the more closed scenes, people have fewer negative emotions such as tension and anxiety when exploring such scenes at first [42]. On the one hand, the relatively closed vegetation environment will make people feel scared and depressed. On the other hand, the theory of environmental preference holds that the mystery of space itself provides opportunities for the exploration of space [42,68]. Therefore, when people explore such scenes, the improvement of negative emotions is more significant.

4.3. Rationality and Limitations

4.3.1. Rationality

The experimental instruments revealed that there is no significant difference in physical and psychological recovery by using a virtual reality experience instead of an actual environmental experience in this study. And VR virtual technology has become a relatively mature technology in the related research of the healing environment.
From the experimental scales, this study used BPOMS and PANAS, also used by scholars of the healing landscape to measure users’ psychological status, and used blood pressure, heart rate, α wave, and β wave to measure users’ physiological status.
From the experimental results, the results of this study are supported by previous research results, and it is further discussed that the distribution of vegetation in the forest environment is also an important incentive for users to recover their physical and mental health.
Above all, we believe that our experiments are feasible and repeatable.

4.3.2. Limitations

First, to control variables, this study only studied the physiological and psychological recovery effects of the mixed forest landscape in the forest environment under different vegetation distribution. However, in the forest environment, there is not only a mixed forest environment, but also a coniferous forest environment and a broad-leaved forest environment [70].
Second, the subjects recruited in this study were all college students and graduate students, and do not reflect other social groups. However, different groups of people have different physiological and psychological recovery effects in the same environment [71]. That is, demographic characteristics are inevitable variables in the environment.

4.3.3. Future Research

According to the shortcomings in our research, we think that the future research can be deeply analyzed from the following two aspects:
① Exploring whether the distribution of vegetation in different types of forest environment will affect users’ physical and mental recovery is a subject for further analysis by research groups in the future. This will better reveal how the vegetation distribution in a forest environment can effectively promote users’ physical and mental health. This will also help the managers of forest environmental resources to plan, design, and make sustainable use of restorative plant resources.
② The deviation of seasonal elements will lead to corresponding changes in the color and spatial sense of the scene. Therefore, it is also one of our important topics in the future to further explore the influence of seasonal changes on people’s physical and mental recovery, so as to make more efficient use of sustainable forest landscape resources.
③ In addition, it is interesting and meaningful to discuss the physiological and psychological recovery of different groups (professional background, sex, etc.) of users in the forest environment when the vegetation distribution changes, which can be used as a variable for future research.

5. Conclusions

The forest environment has been recognized as the basic place for public health and well-being. This study took one indoor environment and three forest environments with different vegetation distributions in three forest parks in northern China as an example, and, through the upgrading and transformation of the spatial structure of vegetation in forest landscape, it provided basic support for the sustainable utilization of forest resources and the sustainable development of the healthy forest environment. The main results are as follows:
(1)
Experiencing the forest environment can promote users’ physiological and psychological health, and its recovery effect is significantly better than that of the indoor environment (p < 0.05).
(2)
The recovery effect of the forest environment on users is influenced by the distribution of vegetation in space, and its recovery dimension on people will also change accordingly.
In the cluster- and randomly distributed forest environments, the relaxation and concentration of users can be improved mainly by alleviating their negative emotions. In the uniformly distributed forest environment, users mainly achieved the purpose of relaxation by improving their vitality and positive emotions.
These results indicate that we need to consider the distribution of vegetation in the environment when planning and designing the restored forest environment, so as to arouse the users’ physiological and psychological responses to the greatest extent. We should also further improve the restoration quality of the forest environment and meet the recreational needs of users.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, T.Z.; Methodology, Y.G.; Validation, Y.G.; Formal analysis, Y.G. and Y.Z.; Investigation, Y.G., Y.Z. and T.Z.; Data curation, Y.G.; Writing—original draft, Y.G.; Writing—review & editing, Y.G. and T.Z.; Visualization, Y.G.; Supervision, W.Z., H.M. and Z.Z.; Project administration, T.Z.; Funding acquisition, T.Z. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

The research was supported by the Educational Commission of Liaoning Province, China (LJK0687), and the Natural Science Foundation of China (31971714).

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by The Ethic Committee of Human Studies, College of Forestry, Shenyang Agricultural University of NAME OF INSTITUTE (protocol code CF-EC-2024-009 and date of approval: 6 June 2024).

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the reviewers for their comments on the paper, which helped us improve the ideas of the paper. We also would like to thank all the subjects who participated in the experiment seriously and patiently, so that we could obtain enough experimental data.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Figure 1. Study areas and study materials, created by Yu Gao (Shenyang Agricultural University). Note: the forest environment in this study mainly refers to the plant space composed of trees, which has beautiful scenery visually and can provide visitors with entertainment, viewing, learning, rest, and other activities functionally. (A): study areas. (B): Survey drawings and field survey photos. (C): study materials.
Figure 1. Study areas and study materials, created by Yu Gao (Shenyang Agricultural University). Note: the forest environment in this study mainly refers to the plant space composed of trees, which has beautiful scenery visually and can provide visitors with entertainment, viewing, learning, rest, and other activities functionally. (A): study areas. (B): Survey drawings and field survey photos. (C): study materials.
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Figure 2. Experimental flow chart and experimental photos, created by Yu Gao (Shenyang Agricultural University).
Figure 2. Experimental flow chart and experimental photos, created by Yu Gao (Shenyang Agricultural University).
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Figure 3. Differences of users’ physiological and psychological indices between baseline and pre-test. Note: *: p < 0.05; **: p < 0.01.
Figure 3. Differences of users’ physiological and psychological indices between baseline and pre-test. Note: *: p < 0.05; **: p < 0.01.
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Figure 4. Restoration effects and differences between indoor environment and forest environment. Note: *: p < 0.05; **: p < 0.01.
Figure 4. Restoration effects and differences between indoor environment and forest environment. Note: *: p < 0.05; **: p < 0.01.
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Figure 5. Restoration effect and difference of users in forest environment with different vegetation distribution. Note: *: p < 0.05; **: p < 0.01.
Figure 5. Restoration effect and difference of users in forest environment with different vegetation distribution. Note: *: p < 0.05; **: p < 0.01.
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Table 1. Physiological indices and meaning.
Table 1. Physiological indices and meaning.
TypeIndexMeaning
Electroencephalogram (EEG)β wave (β)Higher value, higher the degree of concentration.
α wave (α)Higher value, higher the degree of relaxation.
Blood Pressure and Heart RateSystolic blood pressure (SBP)A decrease in the value indicates the recovery from stress. The decrease of value represents the increase in people’s relaxation.
Diastolic blood pressure (DBP)
Heart rate (HR)
Table 2. Psychological indices and meaning.
Table 2. Psychological indices and meaning.
TypePrimary IndexMeaning
Brief Profile of Mood States (BPOMS)Tension (T)Higher value, higher the degree of tension.
Anger (A)Higher value, higher the degree of anger.
Depression (D)Higher value, higher the degree of depression.
Fatigue (F)Higher value, higher the degree of fatigue.
Confusion (C)Higher value, higher the degree of confusion.
Vigor (V)Higher value, higher the degree of vigor.
Total mood disturbance (TMD)TMD = T + A + D + F + C − V
Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS)Positive affect (PA)Higher value, higher positive emotion.
Negative affect (NA)Higher value, higher negative emotion.
Table 3. Differences of pre-test physiological and psychological indices in each environment.
Table 3. Differences of pre-test physiological and psychological indices in each environment.
βαSBPDBPHRTADFCVTMDPANA
Chi-Square2.1996.5884.1247.8931.7042.4050.4771.6512.3044.8671.4681.4894.4892.708
df33333333333333
Asymp.Sig.0.5320.0860.2480.0480.6360.4930.9240.6480.5120.1820.6900.6850.2130.439
N188188188188188188188188188188188188188188
Kruskal–Wallis test. Grouping variable: group (1. indoor environment; 2: cluster distribution of forest environment; 3: uniform distribution of forest environment; 4: random distribution of forest environment).
Table 4. Physiological and psychological changes in the forest environment.
Table 4. Physiological and psychological changes in the forest environment.
EEGBlood Pressure and Heart RateBPOMSPANAS
Cluster distributionβ↑; α↑SBP↓; DBP↓; HR↓↓↓T↓↓↓; A↓↓; D↓↓↓; F↓↓↓; C↓↓↓; V↑; TMD↓↓↓PA↑; NA↓↓
Uniform distribution β↑↑↑; α↑↑SBP↓↓; DBP↓↓↓; HR↓↓T↓; A↓; D↓; F↓; C↑; V↑↑↑; TMD↓PA↑↑↑; NA↓
Random distributionβ↑↑; α↑↑↑ SBP↓↓↓; DBP↓↓; HR↓T↓↓; A↓↓↓; D↓↓; F↓↓; C↓↓; V↑↑; TMD↓↓PA↑↑; NA↓↓↓
Note: ↑ means that the corresponding indicators show an upward trend after viewing the scene; ↓ means that the corresponding indicators show an downward trend after viewing the scene. The number of arrows represents the degree of recovery, and the more arrows, the better the degree of recovery.
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Gao, Y.; Zhang, Y.; Zhang, W.; Meng, H.; Zhang, Z.; Zhang, T. Well-Being and Sustainable Utilization of Forest Environment with Diverse Vegetation Distributions. Sustainability 2024, 16, 8469. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16198469

AMA Style

Gao Y, Zhang Y, Zhang W, Meng H, Zhang Z, Zhang T. Well-Being and Sustainable Utilization of Forest Environment with Diverse Vegetation Distributions. Sustainability. 2024; 16(19):8469. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16198469

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Gao, Yu, Yingna Zhang, Weikang Zhang, Huan Meng, Zhi Zhang, and Tong Zhang. 2024. "Well-Being and Sustainable Utilization of Forest Environment with Diverse Vegetation Distributions" Sustainability 16, no. 19: 8469. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16198469

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