CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 67Urban Green Space and HealthHeart Rate Variability and Autonomic ControlPhysical Activity and Health

The effect of green walking on heart rate variability: a pilot crossover study

Open access
de Brito, Junia N., Pope, Zachary C., Mitchell, Nathan R., Schneider, Ingrid E., Larson, Jean M., Horton, Teresa H., Pereira, Mark A.·2020·Environmental Research
DOI 10.1016/j.envres.2020.109408PMC PMC7877549
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

We investigated the effects of regular walking in green and suburban environments on heart rate variability (HRV) and blood pressure (BP) in middle-aged adults. Twenty-three adults participated in a non-randomized crossover experiment comprised of once-weekly 50-min moderate-intensity walking sessions. Separated by a two-week washout period, participants walked for three weeks in each of two treatment conditions (green and suburban) in a local arboretum and suburban sidewalks of Chaska, MN. Eleven participants completed green walking first and 12 suburban walking first. Walks were split into 15-min intra-walk phases, with phases representing each walk's beginning, middle, and final 15-min. Repeated measures linear mixed models evaluated (1) HRV phase differences between treatments and HRV change within treatments, and (2) pre- and post-walk BP differences between treatments and pre-to post-walk BP changes. Intra-walk phase analyses revealed higher HRV during green walking vs. suburban walking during phase 2 (p < 0.0001) and phase 3 (p = 0.02). Less HRV reduction was seen between intra-walk phases 1 and 2 during green vs. suburban walking (p = 0.02). Pre-to post-walk changes revealed decreased mean systolic BP for both green (p = 0.0002) and suburban (p = 0.003) walking conditions, but not for diastolic BP. Post-walk BP results were similar after both green walking and suburban walking. In summary, walking sessions in a green environment elicited greater beneficial HRV responses compared to a suburban environment. Additionally, walking in either environment, green or suburban, promoted reductions in systolic BP.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.envres.2020.109408

Cites

64 of 64 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 65 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. [28]Gladwell VF, Brown DK, Wood C, Sandercock GR, Barton JL. The great outdoors: How a green exercise environment can benefit all. Extrem Physiol Med 2013; 2(1): 1– 7. doi: 10.1186/2046-7648-2-3 23849478 PMC3710158 · DOI · Paper page
  2. [60]Pretty J, Peacock J, Sellens M, Griffin M. The mental and physical health outcomes of green exercise. Int J Environ Health Res 2005; 15(5): 319– 337. doi: 10.1080/09603120500155963 16416750 · DOI · Paper page
  3. [62]Weiss N Clinical Epidemiology. In: Modern Epidemiology. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2008: 641– 651.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
de Brito, J. N., Pope, Z. C., Mitchell, N. R., Schneider, I. E., Larson, J. M., Horton, T. H., & Pereira, M. A.
Affiliations
  • University of Minnesota (US)
  • Northwestern University (US)
Corresponding author
Pereira, Mark A.
ORCID
Venue
Environmental Research
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-06
Volume
185
Pages
109408
ISSN
0013-9351 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.envres.2020.109408
PMC
PMC7877549
OpenAlex
W3011214006
Cited by
67
References
65
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2
FWCI
2.90
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Environmental Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Health Resources and Services Administration
  • National Institutes of Health
  • University of Minnesota
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Urban Green Space and Health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
Keywords
heart rate variability, blood pressure, urban green space, suburban environment, walking, arboretum, middle-aged adults, environmental effects on health, systolic blood pressure reduction
MeSH terms
Adult, Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, Humans, Middle Aged, Walking, Cross-Over Studies

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review