The effect of winter forest bathing on psychological relaxation of young Polish adults

Abstract The impact of winter forest bathing on human psychological states was investigated in this study. Sixty-two participants were divided into two groups, each group was exposed to city forest or urban (control) environment for 15 minutes. The participants filled up four psychological questionnaires before and after exposure: the profile of mood states (POMS), the positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS), the subjective vitality scale (SVS), and restorative outcomes scale (ROS). The forest environment influenced the surveyed participants, causing a decrease in the negative subscales of POMS and an increase in the positive (vigor) subscale. Moreover, after exposure to the forest environment the participants had the highest scores of SVS, ROS, and a positive subscale of PANAS. This means that in conditions of Central Europe short winter interaction with forest had a substantial emotional, restorative, and vitalizing effect on the surveyed participants.