AI Insight
A randomized crossover trial with 34 university students compared exercise-related boredom during a 30-minute forest walking session versus an intensity-matched indoor treadmill session. Boredom decreased over time during forest walking but increased during treadmill walking, with post-exercise boredom significantly lower after forest bathing than gym exercise. Forest bathing also produced higher affective valence, greater perceived restorativeness, and stronger intention to adhere to exercise, while exercise intensity remained equivalent across conditions.
Why it matters
Boredom is a recognized barrier to maintaining regular physical activity, and these findings suggest that exercising in natural environments may help sustain engagement and long-term adherence. This has practical implications for public health strategies that promote accessible nature-based exercise as a complement or alternative to indoor gym settings.
ObjectiveExercise boredom is a pervasive barrier to physical activity adherence; however, no study has examined it as a primary outcome using a multidimensional boredom measure with temporal tracking across exercise settings. This study compared forest bathing and indoor gym exercise on exercise-related boredom, affective responses, perceived restorativeness, and adherence intention.DesignThis is a randomized, counterbalanced crossover trial with repeated measures at four time points.MethodsA total of 34 healthy university students (21 male and 13 female students; mean age = 21.3 years) completed two intensity-matched, 30-min walking sessions (forest-path and indoor treadmill conditions) in a counterbalanced order, separated by a washout period of 7- to 10-days between them. The primary outcome was exercise boredom, assessed using an 8-item adapted Multidimensional State Boredom Scale (MSBS; Cronbach’s α = 0.87–0.89). Data were analyzed using a 2 (condition) × 4 (time) repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Greenhouse–Geisser correction.ResultsA significant condition × time interaction emerged for boredom [F(1.75, 57.62) = 7.17, p = 0.003, partial η2 = 0.179]. Post-exercise boredom was lower after forest bathing compared to gym exercise [mean difference = 0.60, 95% confidence interval (0.17, 1.03), d = 0.49]. Boredom decreased during forest walking but increased during treadmill walking (p < 0.001). Forest bathing resulted in higher affective valence (d = 0.43), greater perceived restorativeness (d = 1.84), and stronger adherence intention (d = 0.37). Ratings of perceived exertion confirmed equivalent exercise intensity.ConclusionExercise boredom is not merely an individual disposition but a context-sensitive response that is environmentally modifiable. Nature-based exercise warrants further investigation as a strategy for sustaining physical activity engagement.