reduced blood pressure, increased self-esteem, and had a positive significant effect on 4 of 6 mood
measures. Both rural and urban pleasant scenes produced a significantly greater positive effect on selfesteem
than the exercise-only control. This shows the synergistic effect of green exercise in both rural
and urban environments. By contrast, both rural and urban unpleasant scenes reduced the positive
effects of exercise on self-esteem. The rural unpleasant scenes had the most dramatic effect, depressing
the beneficial effects of exercise on three different measures of mood. It appears that threats to the
countryside depicted in rural unpleasant scenes have a greater negative effect on mood than already
urban unpleasant scenes. We conclude that green exercise has important public and environmental