Explore the effects of forest travel activities on university students' stress affection.

This study aims to explore the effects of forest travel activities on university students' stress affection. Forty volunteer university students participated in this study. All participants were asked to complete physiological (Heart Rate Variability) and psychological (Brief Profile of Mood State and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) tests before and after the travel activities. The results reported that students' heart rates were significantly lower after the forest travel activities than before. All domains of negative mood and anxiety decreased from the pre-test to the post-test. This study found that university students could feel less stressed if they went on forest travel activities.

Mapping of Research in the Field of Forest Therapy-Related Issues: A Bibliometric Analysis for 2007-2021.

Exposure to forest environments promotes human health. The number of relevant studies in this area has increased rapidly. However, an overall review of relevant analyses from the perspectives of bibliometrics and visualization is lacking. A scientometric analysis of 2,545 publications from 2007 to 2021 via the Web of Science database was conducted to identify the knowledge structure and frontiers objectively. The publications were subsequently analyzed in terms of the distribution of journals and countries, citation bursts, major subject areas, and evolutionary stages. The findings showed that the knowledge foundation of forest therapy was multidisciplinary with most published in the fields of environmental sciences and ecology but lacking input from social disciplines. The research hotspots evolved from the early focus on individual benefits obtained from nature to increasing attention on human well-being at the social-ecological scale. More rigorous experiments with strict randomized controlled trials and blinding are needed to accommodate the trend of forest therapy toward non-pharmacological treatments. According to Shneider's four-stage theory, forest therapy research is in the third stage of the scientific research process. More future studies utilizing novel technologies and decision-making frameworks to solve practical issues are needed for introducing health into policies and promoting human well-being.

The Influence of Emotional Environmental Pictures on Behavior Intentions: The Evidence of Neuroscience Technology.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, researchers have been paying increasing attention to the issues of how emotions affect people's perceptions of the environment, and how they influence people's behavior or intentions to act. The purpose of this study is to explore the influences of emotions on environmental intention to act by using the neuroscience technology electroencephalography (EEG). METHODS: A total of 70 university students participated in this study. They looked at positive and negative emotional environmental pictures and decided if they wanted to protect the environment after looking at the pictures. The participants wore an EEG cap throughout the process in order to collect their brain wave (EEG) data. RESULTS: The analysis of variance (ANOVA) results showed that the power value of meditation was significantly higher when the participants looked at the positive than at the negative emotional environmental pictures (p < 0.001). The power value of pressure was significantly higher when the participants looked at the negative than at the positive emotional environmental pictures (p < 0.001). The power value of attention was significantly higher when the participants looked at the negative than at the emotional environmental pictures (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The findings showed that positive emotional environmental pictures might promote positive emotions, but will decrease the intention to act to protect the environment. In contrast, negative emotional environmental pictures will increase negative emotions, and will also increase attention and intention to act to protect the environment. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Blood lipid peroxides and muscle damage increased following intensive resistance training of female weightlifters.

The aim of this study was to examine changes in muscle cell injury and antioxidant capacity of weightlifters following a 1-week intensive resistance-training regimen. Thirty-six female subjects participated in this study, and their ages ranged from 18 to 25 years. The sample group included 19 elite weightlifters with more than 3 years of weightlifting training experience, while the control group comprised 17 non-athletic individuals. Compared with non-athletes, weightlifters had significantly lower glutathione peroxidase activity and plasma vitamin C concentrations. Weightlifters also had significantly higher malondialdehyde + 4-hydroxy 2-(E)-nonenal (MDA+4-HNE) and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance (TBARS) levels and creatine kinase (CK) activity. For weightlifters, the plasma vitamin E level and the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) decreased, and CK activity increased significantly (P < 0.05) after a 1-week intensive resistance-training regimen. Both the TBARS levels and CK activity returned to values of pre-intensive training after a 2-day rest. The MDA+4-HNE level strongly correlated with CK activity in weightlifters (P < 0.05). In conclusion, both long-term exercise training and 1 week of intensive resistance training resulted in increased oxidative stress and cell injury in female weightlifters. Furthermore, proper rest after intensive training was found to be important for recovery.