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

Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein

Status: Completed

Conditions: Elderly

Treatments: Behavioral: Intentional contact with nature; Behavioral: Indirect contact with nature

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05492006

e-Nature NK

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Full 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.

Enrollment: 54 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• individuals of both sexes
• capable of physical and mental to carry out the proposed activities
• capable of mental to fill in the questionnaires.

Exclusion criteria

• autoimmune diseases
• chronic or acute inflammatory diseases
• disease that affects the response of the immune system
• neuromuscular problems
• oncological diseases and neoplastic
• individuals being treated with immunosuppressive drugs or that affect the immune system
• individuals who are under the influence of alcohol or other substances that interfere with cognitive ability
• those who have had contact intentional relationship with nature in the 30-day period prior to participating in the study

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

54 participants in 2 patient groups

Group A: intentional contact with nature

Active Comparator group

Description:

Group A volunteers will take a light walk along the park with green space in a single 1-hour session with an emphasis on sense-directed appreciation guided by research team.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Intentional contact with nature

Group B: indirect contact with nature

Active Comparator group

Description:

The members of Group B will watch a video with the images of nature during 4 consecutive 15-minute sessions accompanied by the researcher, totaling 1 hour.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Indirect contact with nature