Daily exposure to virtual nature reduces symptoms of anxiety in college students

Matthew H E M Browning, Seunguk Shin, Gabrielle Drong, Olivia McAnirlin, Ryan J Gagnon, Shyam Ranganathan, Kailan Sindelar, David Hoptman, Gregory N Bratman, Shuai Yuan, Vishnunarayan Girishan Prabhu, Wendy Heller, Matthew H E M Browning, Seunguk Shin, Gabrielle Drong, Olivia McAnirlin, Ryan J Gagnon, Shyam Ranganathan, Kailan Sindelar, David Hoptman, Gregory N Bratman, Shuai Yuan, Vishnunarayan Girishan Prabhu, Wendy Heller

Abstract

Exposure to natural environments offers an array of mental health benefits. Virtual reality provides simulated experiences of being in nature when outdoor access is limited. Previous studies on virtual nature have focused mainly on single "doses" of virtual nature. The effects of repeated exposure remain poorly understood. Motivated by this gap, we studied the influence of a daily virtual nature intervention on symptoms of anxiety, depression, and an underlying cause of poor mental health: rumination. Forty college students (58% non-Hispanic White, median age = 19) were recruited from two U.S. universities and randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. Over several weeks, anxious arousal (panic) and anxious apprehension (worry) decreased with virtual nature exposure. Participants identifying as women, past VR users, experienced with the outdoors, and engaged with the beauty in nature benefited particularly strongly from virtual nature. Virtual nature did not help symptoms of anhedonic depression or rumination. Further research is necessary to distinguish when and for whom virtual nature interventions impact mental health outcomes.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

© 2023. The Author(s).

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Impacts of virtual nature relative to a control condition (no intervention) on two dimensions of anxiety symptoms (worry (A) and panic (B)), depressive symptoms (C), and an underlying cause of poor mental health: rumination (D) (N = 40). Greater decreases correspond to stronger benefits of exposure for mental health. Red lines connect median values pre- and post-intervention. The time between the pre- and post-intervention was three weeks for the 18 students (45% of the total sample) who participated before the COVID-19 pandemic and four weeks for the 22 students (55% of the total sample) who participated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Moderating effects of gender (A), VR experience (B), exposure to outdoor nature (C, D), and engagement with beauty (E, F) for impacts of virtual nature on changes in worry (N = 23). Greater negative values correspond to stronger mental health exposure benefits. Red lines show changes in median values between conditions.
Figure 3
Figure 3
360-degree videos shown in the virtual nature intervention (Courtesy of INVIROVR).

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