{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,28]],"date-time":"2026-09-28T15:54:03Z","timestamp":1790610843846,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,2]],"date-time":"2019-02-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1549065600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"the Special Public Welfare Industry Research Projects of National Forestry bureau, China","award":["No. 201404701"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["No. 201404701"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>To address the question of whether the behavior of humans to view different phenological peony flowers has various effects on their physical and mental parameters, we investigated psycho-physiological responses of 74 participants (61.3 \u00b1 10.78 years old) to environments of pre- and post-viewing tree peonies at four stages, including the exhibition leaf stage (ELS), initial bloom stage (IBS), full bloom stage (FBS), and terminal bloom stage (TBS). Physiological factors were examined using systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate (HR), fingertip pulse (FP), blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), and psychological evaluation, which was carried out using the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and State\u2013Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The results indicated that the SBP, DBP, HR, and FP levels of participants were significantly reduced after viewing tree peonies, whereas no remarkable alterations in SpO2 were found. The POMS scores of anger\u2013hostility (A\u2013H), fatigue\u2013inertia (F\u2013I), tension\u2013anxiety (T\u2013A), confusion\u2013bewilderment (C\u2013B), and depression\u2013dejection (D\u2013D) were significantly lower, but of vigor\u2013activity (V\u2013A) was higher post-viewing than pre-viewing. Furthermore, participants exhibited markedly decreased anxiety levels according to the STAI. Notably, the changes in measurement indices were more pronounced at the FBS. Our studies demonstrated that a short peony-viewing program, especially at the FBS with completely opened and large tree peony flowers, would be a promising therapeutic method for improving physiological functions as well as an effective psychological relaxation strategy for middle-aged and elderly individuals.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph16030439","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,5]],"date-time":"2019-02-05T11:31:07Z","timestamp":1549366267000},"page":"439","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Psycho-Physiological Effects of a Peony-Viewing Program on Middle-Aged and Elderly Individuals at Different Phenological Stages"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Ren-Lin","family":"Zhao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Landscape Architecture and Arts, Northwest A&amp;F University, Yangling 712100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gang","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Landscape Architecture and Arts, Northwest A&amp;F University, Yangling 712100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xi","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Landscape Architecture and Arts, Northwest A&amp;F University, Yangling 712100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bo-Tong","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Landscape Architecture and Arts, Northwest A&amp;F University, Yangling 712100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Li-Na","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Landscape Architecture and Arts, Northwest A&amp;F University, Yangling 712100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Li-Xin","family":"Niu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Landscape Architecture and Arts, Northwest A&amp;F University, Yangling 712100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yan-Long","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Landscape Architecture and Arts, Northwest A&amp;F University, Yangling 712100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"187","DOI":"10.1016\/j.landurbplan.2010.10.006","article-title":"Linking landscape and health: The recurring theme","volume":"99","author":"Thompson","year":"2011","journal-title":"Landsc. 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