2015 Volume 20 Issue 1 Pages 19-32
Several million years have passed since a subset of primates became humans. Because we spent more than 99.99% of our evolutionary history in natural environment, it is considered that we are essentially adaptive to nature. However, we live in a society characterized by urbanization and artificiality despite our physiological functions still being adapted to a natural environment. According to the concept of evidence-based medicine, we reviewed preventive medical effects of nature therapy, which comprised forest, park, wood, and flower therapy. We collected scientific data from field and laboratory experiments using physiological indicators. We expect nature therapy to play an increasingly important role in preventive medicine in the future.
