When I was reading journal papers related to mood relaxation, I came upon a few studies done on Japanese gardens by Goto et al. According to Goto et al., a Japanese garden is a naturalistic garden designed to represent natural scenery abstractly. Although in most countries, gardens are meant to be appreciated with all five senses, many Japanese gardens emphasize the sense of sight. They are meant only to restore one’s mind through viewing an idealized nature.
One of Goto’s earlier studies (2013) tracked short-term changes in mood and heart function in elderly individuals in response to exposure to different landscaped spaces. Nineteen elderly but cognitively intact residents of an assisted living facility (in New Jersey, United States) participated in the study. They were exposed to three landscaped spaces: a Japanese-style garden, an herb garden, and a simple landscaped area planted with a single tree (1).
To assess the effect of different landscaped spaces on older adults, individuals were monitored for mood and cardiac function in response to short exposures to spaces. Mood state was assessed using Profile of Mood States (POMS) before and after viewing the spaces. Cardiac output was assessed using a portable electrocardiograph monitor before and during the viewing (1).
Results showed that the structured gardens evoked greater responses in all outcome measures. Scores on the POMS improved (less stress) after observation of the two organized gardens compared to responses to the simple landscaped space with a single tree. During the observation period, heart rate was significantly lower in the Japanese garden than in the other environments, and sympathetic function was significantly lower as well. The average beat per minute (bpm, all subjects/all time points) during the viewing of the Japanese garden (72.3 ± .52 bpm) was substantially less than the rate observed while the subjects were viewing the herb garden (75.6 ± .54 bpm) or control space (75.4 ± .82 bpm), which were similar to each other. (1).
This study showed that exposure to a Japanese-style garden affected both the mood and cardiac physiology of elderly individuals in a more positive way than did exposure to a traditional herb garden. The authors proposed that the effects they had observed were due to the complex multi-layered view afforded by the Japanese garden, which, by its more complete engagement of the viewer, encouraged a longer more sustained mental focus and in so doing resulted in a more calming state. Their results are consistent with repeated observations that gardens and other natural spaces can have a desirable effect on the mood of an elderly individual (1).
Following the studies on healthy elderly, Goto et al. examined the responses of individuals with advanced dementia to two novel sensory environments in a nursing home facility. The first was a multisensory Snoezelen room; the second was a temporary Japanese garden. Subjects viewed each environment twice a week for 15 minutes during the study. Stress was measured using heart rate and informant-based behavioral changes. By these criteria, the garden-viewing group showed positive behavioral changes while the responses of the subjects in the Snoezelen group were more negative. The response of the subjects' pulse rate was most dramatic. During the 15 minutes in the garden, the average rate (all subjects/all visits) was significantly less than in their residential room. In the Snoezelen room, little or no change was detected. The impact of the garden could also be seen in the negative behavioral signs elicited upon returning the subjects to the garden room after the installation had been replaced with plants and furniture arranged with no formal design. The authors proposed that exposure to a small interior Japanese garden could be an effective intervention for individuals suffering from late-stage Alzheimer's disease (2).
In this study (2), authors explored the effect on individuals with Alzheimer's disease of viewing an indoor Japanese garden at a nursing home in the United States and reported that viewing the garden significantly reduced the heart rate, evoked short-term and long-term memories, and improved behavioral symptoms. However, it was unclear whether these effects were caused by the design of the Japanese garden or the unfamiliarity of the design to Caucasians. Therefore, Goto et al. decided to examine how viewing a Japanese garden affects Japanese patients with dementia (3).
They constructed a Japanese garden on the rooftop of a hospital in Japan. They assessed a total of 25 subjects in the following categories: (1) eye movement, (2) heart rate, and (3) behavior under four different conditions: (a) open view of the site before construction of the Japanese garden (the control space), (b) open view of the Japanese garden, (c) view of the Japanese garden through a closed door, and (d) view of Japanese garden through a closed door with the chrysanthemum scent. Results: Viewers' eyes scanned a larger area while viewing the Japanese garden, and viewing the Japanese garden significantly reduced heart rate and improved behavioral symptoms than the control space. They also found that the effect of viewing the same Japanese garden differed across three conditions: the view through an open door, a closed door, and a closed door with added scent (3).
They extended their observations to two new assisted-living care and a new set of subjects with a different ethnic composition to identify interventions that might improve the quality of life of the elderly with Alzheimer’s disease. They found that, even in these new settings, garden observation not only relieved physiological stress, it also improved qualitative measures such as verbalization and memory retrieval. The heart rates were reduced when the subjects viewed the Japanese garden. The purpose of the Japanese garden design is to create an abstract representation of nature to encourage meditative thought. For an individual with dementia, it appears that these effects result in an improvement of attitude, as suggested by the behavior measures, and a calmer physiological state, as reflected in a sustained drop in their pulse rate (4).
This new data further supports the conclusion that garden observation is worth including in the care planning schedule of advanced dementia patients. Its low cost and easy availability make it an economical adjunct to current pharmacological methods that have the potential to improve the quality of life of people with dementia (4).
A most recent published study (2020) by Goto explored people’s visual attention and psychological and physiological responses to viewing a Japanese garden (an asymmetrically designed garden) and an herb garden (a symmetrically designed garden). Thirty young undergraduate students (the average age of the subjects was 22 + 1.3 years), who were studying environmental sciences at Nagasaki University, were recruited and their physiological and psychological responses to viewing the garden types were assessed using a heart rate monitor and questionnaire. Eye movements while viewing projected slide images of the gardens were tracked using an eye-tracking monitor (5).
The average initial heart rate for male and female subjects while viewing the Japanese garden was higher than the average while viewing the herb garden. Nonetheless, while the average heart rate in the herb garden remained steady or increased slightly, the average heart rate in the Japanese garden decreased by almost 10%. The authors suspected that the increase in heart rate during the first minute reflected the novelty of viewing a landscape unknown to the subjects (5).
Overall, a significant decrease in heart rate was observed when subjects were viewing the Japanese garden as opposed to viewing the herb garden. The mood was significantly improved in both gardens, but eye-gaze patterns differed. The Japanese garden elicited far more comments about expectations for the coming season; unlike the herb garden, it also induced memories of viewing other landscapes. The study showed that physiological and psychological responses to viewing gardens differed based on the quality of landscape design and the prior experience of viewers (5).
As discussed by Goto et al. in the papers, they believed that “although a garden is often thought of as an outdoor space, with ornamental plants, that people can walk through, Japanese gardens are an exception because they are designed to be viewed from indoors. The ultimate purpose of a Japanese garden is to tap into a viewer’s memory of nature by providing views of miniaturized scenery. ” They said that “Japanese gardens, designed for viewing miniaturized landscapes, have been used to calm the mind for hundreds of years and still attract thousands of visitors who wish to experience this effect. The advantage of this type of garden is that the observer stays indoors instead of walking outside for persons with reduced motor ability or who are wheelchair-bound.”(4).
Goto et al.’s studies showed that viewing a Japanese garden for as little as 15 minutes could significantly reduce heart rates and improve moods in healthy elderly, elderly with Alzheimer’s disease, and healthy young people. Even an indoor Japanese garden set up in a room was effective in improving moods. According to these findings, perhaps you can design your garden as an asymmetrically designed garden with multiple layers of plants as seen in a Japanese garden design to facilitate contemplation, so that it may have the therapeutic potential to calm a person’s mind and reduce stress. Alternatively, when you want to get some mind relaxation, you can just go to a Japanese garden.
References:
1. Goto S, Park BJ, Tsunetsugu Y, Herrup K, Miyazaki Y. The effect of garden designs on mood and heart output in older adults residing in an assisted living facility. HERD. 2013 Winter;6(2):27-42. doi: 10.1177/193758671300600204. PMID: 23532694.
2. Goto S, Kamal N, Puzio H, Kobylarz F, Herrup K. Differential responses of individuals with late-stage dementia to two novel environments: a multimedia room and an interior garden. J Alzheimers Dis. 2014;42(3):985-98. doi: 10.3233/JAD-131379. PMID: 25024307.
3. Goto S, Gianfagia TJ, Munafo JP, Fujii E, Shen X, Sun M, Shi BE, Liu C, Hamano H, Herrup K. The Power of Traditional Design Techniques: The Effects of Viewing a Japanese Garden on Individuals With Cognitive Impairment. HERD. 2017 Jul;10(4):74-86. doi: 10.1177/1937586716680064. Epub 2016 Dec 18. PMID: 28643564.
4. Goto S, Shen X, Sun M, Hamano Y, Herrup K. The Positive Effects of Viewing Gardens for Persons with Dementia. J Alzheimers Dis. 2018;66(4):1705-1720. doi: 10.3233/JAD-170510. PMID: 30507568.
5. Goto S, Morota Y, Liu C, Sun M, Shi BE, Herrup K. The Mechanism of Relaxation by Viewing a Japanese Garden: A Pilot Study. HERD. 2020 Oct;13(4):31-43. doi: 10.1177/1937586720924729. Epub 2020 Jun 5. PMID: 32500736.
Photo of the Japanese Garden was taken in Kyoto Imperial Palace in March 2024 by Wendy Wang
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