1. Introduction
Wilson's (In the face of a threat, stress arousal
PHYSIOLOGICAL STRESS, VIRUS
Edited by: Ruoyu Wang, University of Edinburgh, United KingdomReviewed by: Getrude C. Ah Gang, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia; Salvatore Bernardo Durante, Alberta Hospital Edmonton, CanadaThis article was submitted to Environmental health and Exposome, a section of the journal Frontiers in Public HealthThe COVID-19 pandemic and its associated uncertainties and restrictions have adverse impacts on university students' mental wellbeing. Evidence shows that virtual nature contact has mental health benefits. However, little is known about the potential beneficial health impacts of virtual nature contact during times of social distancing, when access to the natural environment is restricted. This pilot study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a 3-week virtual nature contact in improving nature connectedness and reducing psychophysiological stress. A sample of 56 university students in Hong Kong was randomly assigned to control and nature interventions using 2-D video played for 15 min three times a week for 3 weeks. Nature connectedness, perceived restorativeness and psycho-physiological wellbeing were measured. Our findings show significant changes in psychological stress levels after nature interventions compared with the baseline, including increased happiness and stronger emotions of comfort and relaxation. When compared with the control group, the results show the nature intervention group has significantly higher levels of nature connectedness, happiness, and positive affect, but no significant effects on other psychological and physiological variables (e.g., cardiovascular responses). Our preliminary findings highlight the potential use of virtual nature contacts in bolstering university students' wellbeing at times of pandemic or when in-person visit to the natural environment is not feasible.The COVID-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented threat to global health. People experience distress from contracting this highly contagious virus, and pandemic health-control measures and the economic impact of the pandemic have an adverse impact on mental health (Stemming from Wilson's (In the face of a threat, stress arousal contributes to activating a top-down mechanism from the brain to the body through the release of stress hormones, which elicit physiological responses, including cardiovascular functioning, to prepare the body to overcome threats (Recent research in nature-based intervention has turned the researchers' focus to the virtual nature experience, which is partly driven by the rapid urbanization of modern society, with an increasing number of people living in cities with limited nature nearby (Unlike research into the benefits of virtual nature to ameliorate psychological stress, research into the benefits of virtual nature to ameliorate physiological stress has not yielded unambiguous results (The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and its associated prevention measures, such as citywide lockdowns, social-distancing rules, school closures, and working from home, have triggered mental and emotional stress and have limited people's ability to explore nature and experience green space To address the unmet need for an accessible and convenient stress-relief intervention amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we aimed to conduct an exploratory study to examine the effect of virtual nature-based interventions on university students' psycho-physiological stress. Because our goal was to test an intervention that is easy to employ during the pandemic when social distancing measures were in place, we did not use specialized equipment or devices, but instead relied on a computer screen that played a 15-min 2-D video as an accessible method to obtain nature exposure at home. With most of the previous research adopting single interventions (We hypothesized as follows: (a) Participants in the experimental group (virtual nature experience) will show lower levels of psychological and physiological stress responses after 3 weeks of interventions and during follow-up assessments compared with the baseline; and (b) Participants in the experimental group will show lower levels of psychological and physiological stress responses than the control group after 3 weeks of interventions and during follow-up assessments.