Gaekwad and colleagues probe the effects of natural environments on human stress levels. They report that a meta-analysis they conducted indicated “that natural environments had a small to medium effect on reducing physiological stress, compared to equivalent exposure to urban environments. . . . subgroup analysis indicated that the stress state of participants was not related to the effect of natural environments in reducing human stress, which contradicts one of the foundations of Stress Recovery Theory. Similarly, uncertain results were obtained regarding type of exposure to environments (immersion, laboratory exposure, or virtual reality), the effects of natural environments on participants with health conditions, and sensitivity of particular outcome measures.”
Jason Gaekwad, Anahita Moslehian, and Phillip Roos. 2023. “A Meta-Analysis of Physiological Stress Responses to Natural Environments: Biophilia and Stress Recovery Theory Perspectives.” Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 90, 102085, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102085