# Two hundred thirty-six students with anxiety spent 30 minutes planting rowing and reflecting inside a virtual nature world and several benefits remained two weeks later > Can a computer-made lake, a planted virtual tree and a quiet boat ride calm an anxious mind? A trial involving university students in China found that a single session of Mind Nature, an interactive virtual landscape with mindfulness guidance, reduced anxiety more... Canonical URL: https://www.argo.net/two-hundred-thirty-six-students-with-anxiety-spent-30-minutes-planting-rowing-and-reflecting-inside-a-virtual-nature-world-and-several-benefits-remained-two-weeks-later/ Byline: ARGO.net Editorial Team Published: 2026-08-19T01:25:02+00:00 Updated: 2026-08-19T10:29:20+00:00 Categories: Explainer, Health ![Young woman using a virtual reality headset in a field](https://www.argo.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/virtual_reality_nature_licensed.jpg) Can a computer-made lake, a planted virtual tree and a quiet boat ride calm an anxious mind? A trial involving university students in China found that a single session of **Mind Nature**, an interactive virtual landscape with mindfulness guidance, reduced anxiety more than a recreational VR game or no activity. The [study](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2025.100636), published in the **International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology** in October 2025, followed students with mild to moderate anxiety symptoms. Improvements appeared soon after the session and several anxiety measures remained lower two weeks later. The results support growing interest in **[virtual reality nature therapy](https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders)** as a convenient form of mental health support. The findings remain early, since the trial tested one session in a university population and followed participants for only two weeks. ## A 30-minute journey through virtual nature Mind Nature placed each participant on a virtual island surrounded by water, trees, a river and other natural scenery. Students wore a Pico VR headset and could move around the laboratory while exploring a fully three-dimensional world. The experience began with planting activities. Participants dug virtual soil, planted flowers and a tree, then watered their new plants. Spoken mindfulness guidance asked them to notice natural sounds, observe the landscape, follow their breathing and pay attention to their emotions. Later, students rowed across the virtual lake and visited caves and waterfalls. They eventually returned to the island, looked again at what they had planted and reflected on their inner feelings and the surrounding landscape. The **immersive 360-degree environment** was designed to hold attention while encouraging a calm state. The paper summarized the length plainly: "Each session lasted approximately 30 min." A short format could make the system easier to place in a campus wellness center, although further trials would need to find out whether repeated sessions produce stronger or longer-lasting effects. ## How researchers tested Mind Nature Researchers recruited students from universities in Zhejiang Province between April and September 2024. Eligible participants were 18 to 30 years old, enrolled full time and experiencing mild to moderate anxiety. Screening included two widely used questionnaires that measure common signs such as worry, tension and restlessness. A total of 236 students entered the **randomized controlled trial**. A computer program assigned them to Mind Nature, a placebo VR game, or an inactive control group. Participants knew that they would take part in a VR study, while the specific research predictions and group differences were kept from them. The placebo group played a beach sports game for about the same amount of time. Its virtual setting included water and outdoor scenery, but it lacked organized mindfulness guidance and the planned therapeutic sequence. Using an **active control group** helped the researchers separate the effects of Mind Nature from general excitement, distraction, movement and the novelty of wearing a headset. The inactive control group completed the same mental health questionnaires without receiving an intervention. By the end of the follow-up period, 170 students remained in the final analysis: 55 in Mind Nature, 54 in the placebo group and 61 in the inactive control group. Full publication details are also available through the study's [PubMed record](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41142583/). ## Anxiety fell after one VR session Before the session, the three groups had similar anxiety levels. Soon afterward, students who completed Mind Nature reported lower **anxiety symptoms** than students in both comparison groups. The recreational VR game also produced some improvement, although the reduction was smaller. Researchers measured anxiety in more than one way. One scale focused on symptoms, while another separated anxiety linked to the present moment from a person's broader tendency to feel anxious. Across these measures, changes over time differed significantly between the groups. On the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Mind Nature group's average score fell from 16.67 before the intervention to 6.80 immediately afterward. The placebo group declined from 16.93 to 11.69. The inactive control group changed only slightly, from 17.92 to 17.07. The anxiety pattern gives the trial much of its strength. All three groups began from a similar position and the nature therapy group showed the largest immediate decline. The full open-access [research paper](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12550299/) reports that the main group differences remained significant after the researchers adjusted for the large number of statistical comparisons. ## Benefits remained two weeks later At the **two-week follow-up**, anxiety scores in the Mind Nature group had risen from their unusually low post-session level. They still remained below the scores recorded before the intervention, which suggests that part of the benefit lasted beyond the immediate calming experience. On the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the group average was 11.43 at follow-up, compared with 16.67 at the start. The placebo group recorded 14.24, while the inactive control group reached 19.07. Mind Nature remained significantly better than the inactive control, although its difference from the placebo group was no longer significant on that particular measure. The combined state and trait anxiety results offered stronger evidence of a lasting difference. Mind Nature participants remained lower than both comparison groups after two weeks. The placebo group's early improvement was less durable and the inactive control group showed no meaningful change across the study period. A two-week benefit can be useful for planning future research, but it leaves many questions open. Longer trials could measure whether the effect continues for a month or more. They could also test whether several sessions provide steadier support than one visit to a virtual landscape. ## Negative mood and heart rate declined Mind Nature also reduced **negative affect**, a term used for unpleasant emotional states such as distress and guilt. Scores dropped sharply immediately after the session and remained below baseline at follow-up. The placebo VR game also reduced negative feelings, while the inactive control group stayed relatively stable. Positive mood followed a more mixed course. Students in the Mind Nature and placebo groups reported gains over time, but the two VR groups did not differ significantly from each other. Immersion, play, novelty and temporary escape from daily worries may have helped participants in both settings. The researchers also monitored **heart rate** as a basic sign of physical arousal. Heart rate fell in both VR groups, with a larger decrease among Mind Nature users. The nature group dropped from an average of 79.71 beats per minute to 70.24, while the placebo group declined from 79.07 to 76.26. Heart rate was collected only from the two groups that visited the laboratory, so the study lacked comparable measurements from the inactive control group. Future work could add heart rate variability, which provides more information about how the nervous system responds to stress and recovery. ## Mindfulness results were less clear Mindfulness refers to paying close attention to the present moment while allowing thoughts and feelings to pass without an automatic reaction. Since Mind Nature included spoken breathing and awareness exercises, the researchers expected **mindfulness** scores to improve. The VR nature group did show an immediate increase after the session. However, the overall differences among the three groups were limited. At the two-week follow-up, the inactive control group scored higher than the Mind Nature group on the study's mindfulness scale. Nature connection produced another uncertain result. Researchers measured **nature relatedness**, which describes how strongly people feel connected to the living world. Changes occurred over time, but the main analysis found no clear intervention-specific advantage for Mind Nature. A single half-hour session may be too brief to change a broad personal outlook toward nature. The chosen questionnaire may also respond slowly because it measures a general bond with nature rather than a short burst of attention to one landscape. An analysis that removed extreme values found a stronger pattern, so future studies will need more data and additional measures. ## Why virtual nature may ease anxiety Natural environments can draw attention gently. Moving water, leaves, changing light and distant sounds provide a steady stream of detail without demanding intense mental effort. Researchers have proposed that this kind of attention gives tired mental systems a chance to recover. Mind Nature combined that effect with guided awareness and physical interaction. Planting and rowing gave students simple tasks, while the voice guidance brought attention back to breathing and sensory details. The headset blocked much of the laboratory from view, helping the virtual scene fill the user's visual world. Another possible process is **decentering**. A person using decentering notices a troubling thought as a passing mental event instead of following it into a longer cycle of worry. Virtual nature may support this shift by moving attention toward water, plants, sounds and controlled movement. Distraction could also account for part of the change. The placebo game improved several outcomes, showing that recreational VR engagement can influence mood and anxiety. Mind Nature's stronger anxiety results suggest that its planned combination of natural scenery, mindful guidance and reflective activity added further benefit. Background on the research team and publication is available through the [University of Edinburgh research record](https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/mind-nature-a-virtual-reality-nature-therapy-for-reducing-anxiety/). ## Limits of the single-session trial The participants were university students from one area of China and women made up about two-thirds of the final sample. Results may differ among older adults, teenagers, people with diagnosed anxiety disorders, or students living in other cultural and educational settings. Attrition also reduced the sample. Although 236 students entered the study, only 170 remained in the final analysis. Missing results were not filled in through statistical imputation, which leaves some risk that students who withdrew had experiences that differed from those who completed every stage. The trial lasted only two weeks after a one-time session. Academic deadlines, sleep loss, examinations and personal stress could have influenced the students' answers during that period. The researchers did not systematically track all of those outside factors. Several measurements depended on self-reported feelings. Heart rate added a physical measure, though it was unavailable for the inactive control group. More complete future trials could collect sleep data and heart rate variability, then compare virtual nature with outdoor nature and standard relaxation exercises. VR comfort also needs continued attention. Simulator sickness scores were lower in the Mind Nature group than in the beach game group and no participant left because of intolerable discomfort. Even so, dizziness and eyestrain can vary with the headset, scene movement, session length and the individual user. ## A possible mental health tool for campuses Universities face high demand for counseling and some students wait a long time before receiving care. Others avoid seeking help because of cost, limited services, or concern about stigma. A short, supervised VR session could offer an additional form of early support for students with mild symptoms. Mind Nature has practical features for campus use. It follows a programmed sequence, gives the same basic experience to each user and can operate indoors when parks or other green spaces are difficult to reach. The University of Liverpool maintains an official [repository entry](https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/mind-nature-a-virtual-reality-nature-therapy-for-reducing-anxiety/) for the study and its open-access publication. Clinical use will require stronger evidence. Researchers need to test repeated sessions, longer follow-up periods and more balanced groups. Trials involving people receiving professional treatment could also examine how VR nature sessions fit alongside counseling or other established care. For now, Mind Nature offers evidence that a carefully designed virtual landscape can produce measurable changes after a brief visit. Its strongest results appeared in anxiety, negative mood and physical arousal, while mindfulness and nature connection remained uncertain. The next step is to learn how long the calming effect lasts and which students are most likely to benefit.