Effect of urban park visits on wellbeing and stress levels

This study explored physiological and psychological changes immediately after a short-term visit to urban parks in an uncontrolled condition. Sixty park visitors completed a short questionnaire evaluating their subjective well-being (SWB) and donated a saliva sample immediately before and after their park visit. In addition, participants wore a pedometer to track their level of physical activity during the park visit. Results indicated the levels of all biomarkers (cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone [DHEA], and cortisol/DHEA ratio) decreased, and SWB scores increased after the park visit. The duration of park visit was identified as a key variable associated with cortisol reduction, and changes in SWB scores after the park visit were significantly associated with changes in cortisol level. A park visit duration of 21.8 min has the predictive ability to discriminate park visitors who exhibit reductions in cortisol level after the park visit from those who did not.

the Interprofessional Collaboration Research Grant provided by the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP)

This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2025 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.