Acute and Delayed Psychophysiological Responses to a Guided Forest Therapy Session: A Wearable HRV and Self- Report Study
Laurynas Žemaitis
Organization
Vilnius University, Lithuania
Team
Dr. Zoryna Boiarska
Laurynas Žemaitis
Project Description & Objectives
A prospective, within-subject field study of a guided forest-therapy session in Vilnius. It examined acute and delayed psychological and physiological responses before, during, and after the session. Objectives included changes in nocturnal HRV (primarily RMSSD), heart rate, sleep duration, anxiety, affect, quality of life, depressive symptoms, resilience, and links between physiological and psychological change. No control group was used.
Read the full article at Psychophysiological effects of forest therapy on acute and delayed stress recovery: an hrv study.
Data Collection Process
Participants received wearables, completed baseline questionnaires, wore the device continuously (especially overnight), and synchronized it each morning. They completed PANAS and state-anxiety questionnaires immediately before and after forest therapy, then repeated long-form questionnaires at device return. Researchers linked pseudonymized attendance, Fitrockr user/health-log/sleep data, and questionnaire data.
Fitrockr Utilization
Fitrockr was the platform used to register device users, assign devices, collect synchronized wearable data, and export detailed health logs and device-confirmed sleep windows. These exports supported extraction and cleaning of five-minute HRV epochs, heart rate, sleep periods, and stress data.
Wearable Used
Garmin vivosmart 5
Number of Participants
25
Duration
3 month
Metrics Collected
HRV
Heart Rate
Sleep
Stress
Fitrockr Sync Type
Fitrockr Sync