Forest hiking
Forest hiking has been studied in 1 paper since 2025: 1 trial in people. The newest paper, Oct 23, 2025: “A randomized controlled trial effect of forest hiking on tensor muscle function, erythrocyte factors, and leukocytes' subsets in older adults: a pilot study”.
1 paper studies it6 findingsUpdated
“while maximum displacement improved in both the VL and BF (P<0.05).”
None of its findings points the other way.
- 1 lab in 1 country
- Funder: Hanseo University
- Human trial1
Studies in people
1 study gave forest hiking to people and measured what changed.
up: Improves erythrocytes
Randomized trial60 people20 males, 10 females in CON and 20 males, 10 females in FH66–78 years4 weeks
Community-dwelling older adults
Journal of exercise rehabilitation, Oct 23, 2025
What did studies of Forest hiking find?
3Studies of Forest hiking measured 3 outcomes; the most studied are erythrocytes (1 study), muscle function (1) and immune response (1).
Erythrocytes
upin humans1
1 study
Erythrocytes
upin humans1
Forest hiking improves erythrocytes in humans.
“After the intervention, no significant interaction effects between groups were observed for Hb, MCH, and RDW, whereas significant group-by-time interaction effects were found for HCT, MCV, and MCHC.”
Human trialtwice weekly for 4 weeks4 weeksn = 60
Journal of exercise rehabilitation
Forest hiking improves erythrocytes in humans (P<0.05).
“Among erythrocytes parameters, significant interaction effects were observed for hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (P<0.05).”
Human trial4 weeksn = 60
Journal of exercise rehabilitation
Muscle function
upin humans1
1 study
Muscle function
upin humans1
Forest hiking improves muscle function in humans.
“Meanwhile, Dm decreased bilaterally in the VL of the CON group but increased in the FH group, demonstrating a significant interaction effect.”
Human trialtwice weekly for 4 weeks4 weeksn = 60
Journal of exercise rehabilitation
Forest hiking improves muscle function in humans (P<0.05).
“while maximum displacement improved in both the VL and BF (P<0.05).”
Human trial4 weeksn = 60
Journal of exercise rehabilitation
Immune response
upin humans1
1 study
Immune response
upin humans1
Forest hiking improves immune response in humans.
“Following the intervention, the NK cells to CD8+ T cells decreased in the CON group but increased in the FH group, demonstrating significant interaction effects.”
Human trialtwice weekly for 4 weeks4 weeksn = 60
Journal of exercise rehabilitation
Forest hiking improves immune response in humans (P<0.01).
“In addition, significant interaction effects were found in immunocytes (P<0.01).”
Human trial4 weeksn = 60
Journal of exercise rehabilitation