Virtual nature, real relief: how exposure to virtual natural environments reduces anxiety, stress, and depression in healthy adults

Stress, anxiety, and depression represent significant challenges to global public health. Exposure to virtual natural environments, as a convenient and scalable intervention, has shown uncertain effects on healthy adults. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to comprehensively evaluate the impact of exposure to virtual natural environments on stress, anxiety, and depression in healthy adults. A total of 24 studies were included after searching five databases. The results indicate that exposure to virtual natural environments effectively reduces anxiety levels (SMD = 0.82, p < 0.001, large effect), stress levels (SMD = 0.577, p = 0.003, moderate effect), and depression levels (SMD = 0.621, p < 0.001, moderate effect) in healthy adults. These findings suggest that exposure to virtual natural environments has a positive impact on mental health and can serve as a viable alternative when direct access to natural environments is not feasible.