[DC] Virtual Reality Nature Environment Designs for Mental Health

Shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, is a therapeutic nature immersion practice shown to reduce stress and restore mental resources. In a world where the negative effects of sustained stress are an increasingly prevalent issue, connection to nature is important. However, many populations who encounter the most stress are largely isolated from nature, like people working long hours in cities, nursing home residents, or hospital patients. For these populations, virtual reality (VR) nature immersion is a promising supplement for when nature is not accessible. In order to design optimal VR nature environments (VNEs), we must first understand why and how VNEs can be restorative. This is a current area of research, and one critical gap that the proposed research seeks to understand is how the different components of VNEs and their interactions can be optimally designed for short and long term stress reduction and attention restoration. The proposed research does a deeper exploration into the designs of plants and water for optimally restorative VR green and blue spaces.