Forest therapy for chronic diseases: impacts of subtropical forest type and structure on health outcomes

Abstract

Forest therapy has emerged as a promising intervention for chronic health conditions, yet the underlying mechanisms that govern its efficacy remain poorly understood. The study’s objective was to explore the therapeutic potential for four chronic diseases- hypertension, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and subhealth through the interaction of environmental and structural factors of three subtropical forest types of deciduous broadleaf, evergreen broadleaf, and mixed coniferous-broadleaf forests in Zhejiang Province, China. The forest environmental factors we have selected include the biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), illumination, temperature, humidity, wind speed, CO₂, ozone (O₃), PM2.5, PM10, and negative air ions (NAI) in forest stands. The forest structural factors we have selected include diameter at breast height, tree height, clear bole height, canopy density, leaf area index, stand density, altitude, aggregation index, competition index, and mingling index. Physiological and psychological indicators of four chronic diseases groups were used as dependent variables. The methods of random forest analysis and factor importance ranking were employed to identify the predominant drivers of forest therapy efficacy. The key findings indicate that beneficial BVOCs promoted therapeutic effects across all four patient groups, with the antihypertensive effect is significant in the hypertension group (P ≤ 0.01). Environmental factors, especially humidity and O₃, had negative impacts on therapeutic outcomes across all four groups. In contrast, illumination and NAI had positive therapeutic effects on three groups but not the subhealth group Structural factors, especially stand density and altitude were key drivers of treatment effectiveness. Forest type was also crucial, with deciduous broadleaf forests yielding the best outcomes for four chronic conditions. The three forest types all exhibited significant therapeutic effects on emotional scores (P ≤ 0.001). In addition, deciduous broadleaf forest significantly reduced systolic blood pressure (P ≤ 0.001), while evergreen broadleaf forest significantly reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure (P ≤ 0.001). This study provides critical insights into the interactions between the forest environment, structures, and therapeutic effects, offering a foundation for optimizing forest therapy strategies and forest management practices to improve public health. The findings have implications for personalized therapeutic interventions and sustainable forest management in subtropical regions.

Keywords

Forest therapy / Chronic diseases / Therapeutic effect / Forest environmental factor / Health outcome

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