Home / The evidence
Forest bathing outcomes, in charts
What researchers measured before and after forest bathing, taken from published reviews. Small, short-term, and real.
After one forest session, studies find small drops in heart rate, blood pressure, anxiety and low mood. Over several weeks of regular sessions, two trials found larger mood gains than urban walking, plus lower cortisol in one small pilot. Evidence for lasting blood pressure effects is mixed, and every study here is small.
1. After an initial session of a couple of hours
Average change from before to after a single forest session, pooled across studies in a 2026 systematic review. The line falling means calmer.
Pooled mean differences from the 2026 review (PMC, Frontiers in Psychology). Mood scales are points on a standard mood questionnaire.
2. With sustained, regular forest time
Before and after weeks of sessions. Only two published trials gave clear numbers, so we show each one and say what it was.
Four weeks, five days a week: forest walking vs urban walking
A randomized trial of 120 older adults with high blood pressure in China, 60 per group, mood measured before and after (Liang, Li and Chen, 2026).
Eight weekly sessions of 2 to 2.5 hours
A small pilot in Brasilia, 23 people in the forest group, measured at the first and eighth session (Franco Netto et al., 2026).
In the Brasilia pilot, cortisol also fell in the urban comparison group, by less (median change -0.07 vs -0.13 ug/dL, p = 0.024). Systolic blood pressure fell in both groups by about the same amount (median -9 in the forest group vs -10 in the comparison group, p = 0.569), so that drop cannot be credited to the forest.
The size of the evidence base
131
primary studies pooled in a published review of reviews
11
systematic reviews in that umbrella review
Mostly Asia
where the studies were run, so results may differ in North Carolina woods
What these charts cannot tell you
- Each line has only two time points. No study we found tracked people week by week, so we cannot draw a smooth recovery curve without inventing data.
- The 4-week trial was not blinded, and some of its blood pressure table values look inconsistent, so we show only its mood scores.
- The Brasilia pilot was not randomized and about a third of the control group dropped out.
- The charts compare different studies on different scales. Compare direction, not height.
Where the evidence is weaker
| Measure | What reviews found | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Stress and anxiety (short term) | Reductions reported across several reviews | Moderate, small studies |
| Heart rate and blood pressure | Small average drops after sessions | Moderate, results vary |
| Salivary cortisol | Slightly lower in forest groups than city groups (-0.05 to -0.08 ug/dL); heterogeneity was high | Mixed |
| Depression and hypertension as conditions | Suggestive, not conclusive | Low |
| Lasting blood pressure change over weeks | One 8-week Korean trial found no lasting systolic drop versus a comparison group; a 4-week trial found larger drops than urban walking | Mixed |
| Is the mood benefit forest-specific? | One randomized trial found similar mood changes after forest and urban walking; the 4-week trial above favored forest | Unclear |
| Long-term effects beyond a few weeks | Little follow-up data | Unknown |
Reviewers consistently describe forest bathing as a complementary health-promotion practice. It is not a substitute for medical care, and we never promise it will treat any condition.
Results from our own sessions
After each session participants are invited to rate how calm they feel from 1 to 10 before and after. Once there are enough responses to be meaningful, the real averages will be charted here. Until then we show only published research and invent nothing.
Sources
- Short-term cardiovascular and mental health responses to shinrin-yoku: systematic review and meta-analysis (2026)
- Frontiers in Psychology systematic review (2026)
- Liang, Li and Chen, forest therapy RCT in elderly hypertensive patients (2026)
- Franco Netto et al., forest bathing quasi-experimental study in Brazil (2026)
- Korean forest therapy program and blood pressure, Clinical and Experimental Hypertension
- Randomized trial of forest versus urban walking
- Antonelli et al., forest bathing and cortisol, systematic review and meta-analysis (2019)
- Kotera, Richardson and Sheffield, mental health systematic review and meta-analysis (2020)
- Review of systematic reviews, cardiovascular, immune and mental health (2021)