Given the trends toward increasing childhood obesity, increasing physical activity is an important intervention strategy. “Green exercise” may be attractive to children and therefore increase physical activity, which can decrease stress and its physiological manifestations and improve perceived well-being.
In this exploratory study, the authors studied the impact on blood pressure, heart rate, and mood in 14 primary school children from the United Kingdom (equal number of boys and girls; average age 10 years) of cycling while viewing a video of cycling in a forest versus exercise alone. The tests were conducted with 24 hours in between, to contrast the differences between cycling while viewing a video of a forest versus a blank screen. Measurements were taken pre-, immediately after, and 15 minutes after exercise to measure blood pressure and heart rate. Measurements were taken pre- and 15 minutes after for mood, not immediately after.
Consistent with adult studies, the authors found that the usual lowered systolic blood pressure after exercise was even lower for children when cycling while watching the forest cycling video compared to those who cycled with no video. In contrast to adult studies, mood state was not improved for children when cycling while watching the forest video compared to the no video condition. Heart rate also did not differ between the video and no video conditions. There were no differences between boys and girls or between children who were overweight or obese and those that were not. The authors conclude that this study documented a post-exercise hypotensive effect that was stronger in the green exercise condition compared to exercise alone.
This study contributes to the literature by studying the impact of green exercise on blood pressure, heart rate and mood specifically in children. A strength of the study is its “cross-over” design in which the same children are tested under different conditions.
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