Experts say that hiking improves people’s physical and mental health, but those living in crowded cities don’t have much opportunity to take advantage of this opportunity.
French scientists conducted a study to see if virtual reality technology could have the same effect.
In the study, published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Frontiers, 36 adults interacted with various virtual environments through virtual reality goggles.
The environments the team designed included bridges and other urban structures. However, the researchers added varying amounts of plants and trees to these environments.
Participants walked in these environments through these virtual reality goggles.
The researchers observed that the participants walked slower and had a faster heartbeat in the green environments. This meant they enjoyed their walk.
According to the team, most of the tests show that these additions to virtual environments in gray cities can increase fitness.
The authors of the research paper said:
“The observation of higher averages in heart rates in environments presented with colorful designs suggests that adding color to gray cities can be a powerful tool for triggering agility and pleasure.
Virtual reality goggles are being used to make farm animals feel better.
In Russia in 2019, cows were fitted with virtual reality goggles to help them recover from winter depression. The images shown to the animals included environments such as meadows.
A similar application was tried in Turkey at the beginning of this year. İzzet Koçak, who is engaged in cattle breeding in Aksaray, also tried virtual reality glasses on his cows and observed that milk yield increased.
