Effects of Forest Walking on Stress Level of Different Gender Groups

In order to study the impact of forest walking recuperation activities on the stress level of different gender groups, 40 volunteers aged 30-70 who lived in urban areas all year round were selected to carry out a forest walking recuperation activity in the Kuanba Forest Farm Recuperation Center. By comparing the changes of salivary cortisol concentration before and after the volunteer recuperation activities, the effects of forest walking on stress level of different gender groups were analyzed and discussed. The results showed that the average salivary cortisol concentration of the subjects decreased after forest walking, and the change rate was higher than that of the control group with non-forest walking, indicating that forest walking can improve human stress level, and its effect on men was higher than that on women. Correlation analysis showed that there was a very significant negative correlation between the change rate of average salivary cortisol concentration and age （P < 0.01）, which indicated that with the increase of age, the effect of forest walking on stress level was smaller.