Table 3

Comparison of effects on forenoon and afternoon walking

Forenoon session

Afternoon session

Interaction^c

n

Before^a

After^b

n

Before^a

After^b

Actual sleep time (min)

26

380.0 ± 99.6

385.6 ± 101.7

16

342.9 ± 66.2

475.4 ± 150.5

0.005

Actual sleep (%)

26

88.8 ± 5.1

88.9 ± 5.5

16

83.9 ± 9.6

86.6 ± 8.7

0.28

Sleep latency (min)

26

22.8 ± 40.2

11.1 ± 10.9

16

15.6 ± 14.3

9.4 ± 7.3

0.61

Immobile time (min)

26

372.2 ± 95.7

377.5 ± 98.2

16

330.6 ± 72.8

463.4 ± 153.6

0.006

St. Mary's Hospital Sleep Questionnaire

Self-rated depth of sleep (score)

35

4.5 ± 1.4

4.9 ± 1.4

29

4.9 ± 1.3

5.2 ± 1.6

0.57

Number of awakenings (times)

37

1.46 ± 1.26

1.49 ± 1.22

29

1.52 ± 1.24

1.41 ± 1.50

0.63

Sleep quality (score)

34

3.9 ± 1.1

4.2 ± 1.2

29

4.1 ± 1.0

4.3 ± 1.2

0.87

Alertness on waking (score)

34

3.4 ± 1.2

3.6 ± 1.4

28

3.4 ± 1.2

3.8 ± 1.1

0.64

Satisfaction with sleep (score)

34

3.2 ± 1.0

3.2 ± 1.1

29

3.3 ± 1.1

3.6 ± 0.9

0.30

Early morning awakening (n, % yes)

34

5, 14.7%

5, 14.7%

26

5, 19.2%

3, 11.5%

Difficultly falling asleep (score)

35

1.2 ± 0.5

1.2 ± 0.5

29

1.3 ± 0.6

1.2 ± 0.5

0.23

Mean ± SD, a: night before forest walking, b: night after forest walking, c: repeated analysis of variance.

Morita et al. BioPsychoSocial Medicine 2011 5:13   doi:10.1186/1751-0759-5-13