NCT05492006

Immune Response and Affective States of Elderly and 50+ Individuals After Intentional and Indirect Contact With Nature

Immune Response and Affective States of Elderly and 50+ Individuals After Intentional and Indirect Contact With Nature: a Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 54 (actual)
• Sponsor: Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Randomized clinical trial on the influence of intentional and indirect contact with nature on the immune response and affective states in people aged 50 years or older.

Detailed description

Interaction with nature creates a state of physical relaxation, helping the individual to manage stress and promote health. Along with the ability to reduce stress, nature has been shown to improve immune function in some specific environments. Science already proves that stress conditions affect the immune capacity, generating pathological immune responses and inflammatory responses inappropriate. Therefore, if contact with nature is capable of reducing stress, through this study can find manifestations of improvement of the functions immunological. This clinical trial aims to analyze intentional (Forest Bathing) and indirect contact (e-NatPOEM) with nature. After informed consent form, participants will be randomized to the study arms. Will be evaluated cells and enzymes of the of the immune system and affective states immediately before the intervention, 30 minutes post intervention, and within 48 hours and four weeks after the intervention. The hypothesis of our study is that both nature-based interventions will stimulate the immune system and will improve affective states. However, intentional direct contact with nature will have superior results than indirect contact.

Conditions

• Elderly

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Indirect contact with nature	The participants will watch a video with validated images of nature from e-Nature Positive Emotions Photography Database (e-NatPOEM). Four fifteen-minute sessions will be held on four consecutive days, totaling 1 hour.
BEHAVIORAL	Intentional contact with nature	The participants will take a light walk in a park with green spaces guided by research team in a single 1-hour session, with an emphasis on sense-directed appreciation.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-06-20
• Primary completion: 2023-11-30
• Completion: 2025-06-30
• First posted: 2022-08-08
• Last updated: 2025-07-18

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Brazil