The growing demand for accessible therapeutic options has led to the exploration of Virtual Reality (VR) as a platform for forest bathing, which aims to reduce stress and improve cognitive functions. This paper brings together findings from three studies by the authors. The first study compared environments with and without plant life to examine how biomass influences stress reduction. The second study focused on the differences between low-fidelity and high-fidelity VR environments, while the third explored whether the benefits of VR forest bathing come from being immersed in realistic environments or simply from viewing something beautiful. The results showed no significant differences between environments with and without biomass, but highlighted the positive effects of high-fidelity VR environments and realistic nature over abstract art. The paper also covers how VR nature experiences may boost executive functioning and well-being in older adults and discusses the potential of generative AI to create customized VR environments. It concludes with a call for further collaborative research to refine VR forest bathing for stress relief and cognitive enhancement.

翻译：随着对可及性治疗选项的需求日益增长，虚拟现实（VR）作为森林浴平台的研究应运而生，旨在减轻压力并改善认知功能。本文整合了作者三项研究的发现。第一项研究比较了有无植物生命的环境，以探究生物量如何影响压力减轻。第二项研究聚焦于低保真度与高保真度VR环境之间的差异，而第三项研究则探讨了VR森林浴的益处是源于沉浸于逼真环境，还是仅仅来自观赏美丽事物。结果显示，有无生物量的环境之间无显著差异，但突出了高保真度VR环境和逼真自然景观相较于抽象艺术的积极效果。本文还涵盖了VR自然体验如何可能提升老年人的执行功能和幸福感，并讨论了生成式AI在创建定制化VR环境方面的潜力。最后，文章呼吁进一步开展合作研究，以完善用于压力缓解和认知增强的VR森林浴。