Participating in Tree Planting Improves Mood,Reduces Stress,and Alleviates Anxiety

Abstract

In the face of rising global concerns regarding emotional distress in the context of rapid urbanization, the need for efficacious and eco-friendly initiatives to address these problems is becoming increasingly relevant. Within the human–nature relationship framework, hands-on participation in tree planting entails activities that enable active interaction with nature. This approach could result in potential mental health benefits while offering a sustainable solution to current environmental challenges. The present study aimed to evaluate the potential effects of hands-on participation in a tree-planting activity on emotional distress parameters in a sample of healthy adults. A pretest–posttest study was conducted, involving 154 participants who engaged in planting containerized saplings through a tree-planting program. The assessment instruments used included the Profile of Mood States for evaluating mood states and the Visual Analog Scale for registering stress and anxiety. Various environmental, activity-related, and personal factors were recorded and analyzed as potential predictive factors of the pretest–posttest outcomes, including connectedness to nature, perceived instorativeness, and physical effort, along with the time spent sleeping, walking, and exercising. The results demonstrated significant reductions in tension, depressed mood, anger, fatigue, stress, and anxiety, as well as an increase in vigor. The predictive factors accounted for 10% of the variability in pretest–posttest changes in depressed mood, 13% in anger, 18% in fatigue, and 22% in vigor. In conclusion, the observed positive changes in mood states, stress, and anxiety following hands-on participation in tree-planting activities could be applied from a preventive perspective on potential emotional distress experienced in urban contexts.