Physiological and Psychological Impacts of Walking Stress in an Urban Environment on Young Males

Abstract

Rapid urbanization and artificialization have caused environmental changes that threaten human health and quality of life. However, there is a lack of evidence-based research focused on the physiological and psychological impacts of urban environments. The aim of this study was to clarify the physiological and psychological impacts of urban environments using a field experiment. Thirty-six Japanese male university students (mean age 22.1 ± 1.8 years) participated in the study, each was instructed to walk a predetermined 13-min course in an urban area (test) and forested area (control). Heart rate and heart rate variability were measured to assess physiological responses to the environment. The semantic differential method for assessing emotions and reports of feeling “refreshed” were used to determine psychological responses. Heart rate was significantly higher and the high-frequency component of heart rate variability, which is an index of parasympathetic nervous activity that is enhanced in relaxing situations, was significantly lower when the subjects walked through urban than through forested areas. Moreover, the psychological indices showed that the subjects felt more artificial and less “refreshed” when walking in the urban areas. In conclusion, these findings provide important scientific evidence of physiological and psychological impacts of walking stress in urban environments.